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UC-NRLF 


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LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 

GIFT  OF 

, 

Class 

Compliment  „ 
8.  L  PHILLIP, 

John  Marshall  Place, 
Washington,  D.  C. 


\  \ 


X  ■  ^ 


N<3° 


^ 


THE  TESTIMONY   OF   REASON 


THE     TESTIMONY 
OF      REASON 


BY 


SAMUEL  L.  PHILLIPS 


n 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

THE  NEALE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

431  ELEVENTH  STREET 

MCMIII 


COPYRIGHT,  1903 

BY 

SAMUEL  L.  PHILLIPS 


to/ 1/0 1 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Preface  7 

Nature  of  God n 

Argument  of  Analogy 13 

Darwinism 16 

Atheism   18 

Agnosticism    20 

Agnosticism  and  Evolution 24 

Pantheism  28 

Evolution  and  the  Moral  Sense 34 

Science  37 

Science  and  Cosmogomy 41 

Science  and  Christianity 49 

Immortality  and  Truth S3 

Sin 56 

Sin   Permitted 58 

The  Moral  Future  of  Mankind 59 

Natural  Life  and  Immortality 60 

Sin  and  Providence 61 

Special  Providence  of  God 62 

Special  Providence  and  Experiences 63 

Faith 65 

Faith  and  Knowledge 67 

The  Love  of  God . 69 

Immortality  of  the  Soul 70 

Excelsior  79 

Heaven 84 

Satan    86 

The  Heavenly  State 87 

Hell 89 

Recognition  in  Future  Life 91 

Christ   92 

The  Church  of  Christ 107 

Miracles  109 

Conclusion 115 


109749 


PREFACE 

From  the  middle  of  the  last  century  to  the 
present  time  a  great  wave  of  unbelief  in  the 
principles  of  revealed  religion  has  been  passing 
over  the  minds  of  some  of  the  most  learned 
men. 

The  dicta  of  the  Scriptures  have  been  ignored 
by  them  and  nothing  believed  except  it  be  agree- 
able to  natural  reason.  What  are  supposed  to 
be  the  teachings  of  science  have  largely  dis- 
placed faith. 

Those  who  have  rejected  the  doctrines  of 
orthodox  Christian  churches  are  not  to  be 
regarded  with  either  indifference  or  pity.  No 
man  lives  who  is  a  greater  lover  of  truth  than 
the  scientist.  The  pursuit  of  science  is  the  pur- 
suit of  truth,  and  the  student  of  science  makes 
truth  his  deity.  He  believes  whatever  facts 
teach;  he  follows  blindly,  joyfully  where  his 
reason  leads. 

If  the  student  of  divinity  can  show  the  stu- 
dent of  science  wherein  he  is  wrong,  what  im- 
portant premise  in  his  syllogism  is  false,  or  has 
been  omitted,  none  will  embrace  the  new 
demonstration  with  more  delight  and  enthu- 
siasm than  the  latter.     But  the  citation  of  mir- 

vii 


Vlll  PREFACE 

acles  will  have  no  influence  on  his  mind,  for  he 
sees  no  variableness  in  the  laws  of  nature  he  has 
been  studying;  the  assertions  of  prophets  and 
apostles,  of  confessors  and  priests  will  not  con- 
vince him  he  has  erred,  when  his  reason  assures 
him  their  assertions  are  contrary  to  his  experi- 
ences. He  believes  truth  and  nature  to  be  one 
and  harmonious. 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  more  attention 
should  be  given  by  the  representatives  of  the 
Christian  church  to  arguments  founded  upon 
known  facts  and  known  laws ;  that  the  scientist 
and  agnostic  should  be  approached  on  their  own 
battle  ground,  their  weapons  seized  and  the 
fight  waged  with  arguments  from  nature 
against  arguments  from  nature,  and  after  the 
contemners  of  revealed  religion  have  been  made 
to  see,  as  I  believe  they  can  be,  that  many  of  the 
important  truths  of  Christianity  can  be  estab- 
lished to  a  high  degree  of  probability  by  purely 
rational  considerations  from  facts,  in  whose 
truth  they  firmly  believe,  then  they  will  be  in  a 
much  more  receptive  state  of  mind  to  acknowl- 
edge that,  after  all,  they  have  been  surprised  at 
the  confirmatory  human  arguments  brought 
forth ;  that  much  more  truth  resides  in  the  relig- 
ion of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  than  they  had  sup- 
posed; that  there  being  so  much  of  probable 
truth  in  it  all,  it  is  only  a  fair  argument  the 
whole  of  it  may  be  truthful,  until  finally,  in  the 
impotency  of  their  own  reasoning,  in  the  scien- 


PREFACE  IX 

tific  recognition  that  there  is  so  much  in  nature 
beyond  the  understanding — whole  worlds  be- 
yond physics — they  will  yield  themselves  entire- 
ly to  the  ennobling,  the  glorifying  faith  in  the 
Saviour  of  Mankind. 

To  accomplish  something  in  this  line,  which 
has  been  the  experience  of  the  writer,  is  the  aim 
of  this  book. 

Washington,  D.  C, 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 


NATURE  OF  GOD 


One  of  the  fundamental  criteria  for  human 
judgment  is  the  estimation  of  a  being's  faculties 
by  his  works.  When  we  hear  a  distant  bark  we 
affirm  without  seeing  that  the  animal  making 
the  noise  is  of  the  dog  species ;  when  we  find  a 
nest  hidden  among  the  branches  of  a  tree  we 
conclude  some  bird  has  built  it ;  when  we  behold 
a  ship  sailing  on  the  water  we  know  man  has 
fashioned  it.  This  comparative  method  of  rea- 
soning is  so  universal,  animals  act  on  it  as  well 
as  men,  and  so  essential  is  it  that  deprived  of 
this  process  of  arriving  at  knowledge,  mankind 
would  never  have  attained  to  even  the  present 
mental  status  of  the  brute  world. 

Accordingly,  when  we  look  out  on  nature  and 
find  that  a  square  described  on  the  hypothenuse 
of  every  right  angle  triangle  is  equivalent  to  the 
sum  of  the  squares  described  on  the  other  two 
sides ;  that  one  of  the  functions  of  logarithms  is 
that  a  high  power  of  a  number  may  be 
obtained  by  the  multiplication  of  two  numbers, 
ii 


12  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

thus  shortening  to  a  line  and  the  work  to  a 
minute  what  would  probably  take  an  expert 
arithmatician  a  long  time  to  solve,  and  cover- 
ing many  pages  with  figures ;  that  in  electricity 
the  current  is  always  equal  to  the  electromotive 
force  divided  by  the  resistance;  that  any  two 
forces  may  be  resolved  into  a  single  force  which 
will  be  their  diagonal;  that  in  chemistry  when 
one  atom  of  nitrogen  combines  with  three 
atoms  of  oxygen  there  invariably  results  nitric 
acid,  and  so  on  to  probably  a  billion  instances, 
we  are  forced  to  conclude  that  the  Being  who 
ordained  these  things  should  be  so — for  it  is 
inconceivable  the  triangle  or  nitrogen,  etc., 
should  have  made  its  own  laws — of  necessity 
was  a  geometer,  a  mathematician,  an  electrician, 
a  civil  engineer  and  a  chemist. 

But  to  be  endowed  with  such  capacities  and 
knowledge  the  creator  of  such  things  must  have 
been  possessed  of  mental  faculties  similar  in 
character  to  those  of  man,  for  the  latter  has  dis- 
covered, formulated,  and  applied  them  by  the 
exercise  of  his  mental  faculties. 

If  the  above  facts  be  correct  and  the  conclu- 
sion drawn  from  them  be  legitimate,  it  follows 
that  Almighty  God  must  be,  in  the  broad  sense 
of  the  term,  a  Being  possessing  intellectuality 
of  which  man's  own  intellectuality  is,  in  some 
respects,  a  feeble  likeness. 


ARGUMENT  OF  ANALOGY 

A  celebrated  argument  of  Analogy  was  in 
effect,  if  one  should  visit  an  uninhabited 
island  and  in  traversing  it  find  a  watch  for  keep- 
ing time,  such  individual  would  conclude,  on 
examining  its  parts  and  noticing  their  depend- 
ence one  on  the  other  and  all  tending  to  pro- 
duce a  common  result,  that  some  intelligent 
being  had  made  the  watch.  It  next  cited  the 
innumerable  evidences  of  design  in  vegetables, 
animals,  and  mankind,  and  affirmed  that  all  of 
these  things  showed  a  far  more  complex  and 
wonderful  mechanism  than  the  watch,  and  by 
analogy  they  must  have  been  made  by  an  intelli- 
gent Creator. 

This  argument  was  not  seriously  disputed 
when  promulgated,  but  of  late  years  it  has  been 
ignored  by  many  scientists  because  they  believe 
Darwin  and  his  followers  have  shown  it  to  be 
probable  that  some  species  of  vegetables  and 
animals  have  originated  either  by  artificial  or 
natural  selection,  or  unconsciously  by  adapta- 
tion to  their  environment. 

Giving  the  contention  of  the  evolutionists  the 
utmost  force  its  believers  claim,  it  does  not 
invalidate  or  even  touch  the  conclusions  drawn 
13 


14  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

from,  for  example,  the  laws  of  electricity,  which 
have  existed  from  the  original  fiat,  laws  in  this 
one  division  of  science  so  numerous,  so  precise, 
so  unvarying,  so  complex  many  of  them  can  be 
solved  only  by  the  calculus,  but  so  certain  and 
true  that  although  pages  after  pages  of  the  most 
refined  mathematical  processes  are  required  to 
be  filled  for  their  solution,  there  are  never  any 
inconsistencies  between  the  electrical  phe- 
nomena and  any  of  the  intermediate  or  final 
equations  which  represent  them. 

In  such  instances  as  electricity,  as  gravita- 
tion, as  chemistry  there  has  been  admittedly  no 
evolution.  The  qualities  of  matter,  and  the  laws 
governing  the  sciences  today  were  made  in  the 
beginning.  Man  with  his  expanding  intellect 
has  discovered  many  of  them,  possibly  he  may 
be  simply  on  the  threshold  of  the  temple  of 
knowledge.  These  laws  are  more  complex  than 
the  mechanism  of  the  watch,  and  it  is  inconceiv- 
able for  them  to  have  been  the  work  of  chance. 
Chance  is  a  synonym  of  disorder,  of  change. 

The  laws  of  nature  are  ever  certain,  and  won- 
derfully designed  to  produce  an  harmonious 
creation.  The  Creator  who  conceived  and 
brought  them  into  being  must  have  exercised  a 
knowledge,  a  foresight,  an  intellectuality  be- 
yond thought,  and  though  animals  and  men 
may  be  admitted  to  have  been  evolved  from 
lower  orders,  evolution  has  had  no  part  in 


ARGUMENT  OF   ANALOGY  1 5 

bringing  the  laws  of  nature  into  existence. 
They  were  perfect  in  the  beginning  and  have 
never  changed.  They  were  made  by  a  single 
fiat  of  the  Almighty. 


DARWINISM 

It  may  be  admitted  that  it  is  probable  species 
originated  from  a  common  ancestor  by  virtue 
of  a  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  to  live,  and 
the  inheritance  by  its  progeny  of  desirable 
acquired  characteristics. 

But  this  law  is  one  of  God's  laws,  and  while 
the  aforegoing  analogy  in  pointing  to  the  pres- 
ent mechanism  of  the  eye,  or  ear,  or  heart  as 
proof  of  the  direct  and  immediate  handiwork 
of  an  intelligent  Creator,  in  the  sense  of  a  watch 
being  the  work  of  an  intelligent  man,  is  prob- 
ably not  perfect,  yet  if  it  was  said  the  laws  of 
evolution  which  have  wrought  these  changes 
and  improvements  were  the  work  of  an  intelli- 
gent Creator,  the  conclusion  would  be  irrefu- 
table. 

Granting  the  assertions  of  the  most  extreme 
evolutionists,  it  is  no  impeachment  of  the  power 
and  intelligence  of  God  to  admit  all  vertebrates 
had  a  common  ancestor  in  the  very  remote  past, 
rather  it  is  an  evidence  of  His  power  to  be  able 
to  impress  on  all  vegetable  and  animal  life  this 
ability  to  develop  into  differences  and  higher 
beings  and  evolve  the  harmonious  and  beautiful 
world  we  see  before  us. 
16 


DARWINISM  17 

There  is  nothing,  therefore,  in  evolution  an- 
tagonistic to  the  creation  of  nature  by  the  all- 
wise  and  powerful  God  in  whom  we  believe. 
The  workman  who  produces  screws  by  means 
of  machinery  he  has  constructed  and  put  in 
operation  is  as  much  a  maker  of  such  screws  as 
he  who  fashions  them  severally  with  his  own 
hands. 


ATHEISM 

The  scientist  who  refuses  to  believe  in  an 
intelligent  God  as  the  Creator  of  the  universe 
because  He  is  not  manifest  to  his  physical 
senses,  but  in  his  efforts  to  account  for  all  the 
apparent  and  wonderful  evidences  of  design 
which  surround  him  affirms  that  nature  was 
self-created  and  is  self-existent,  is  compelled  to 
defend  successfully  these  propositions : 

1.  That  solids,  liquids  and  gases  could  have 
established  the  innumerable  and  various  laws 
under  which  they  act. 

2.  That  matter  had  not  only  the  intelligence 
to  ordain  these  laws,  but  to  create  them  of  such 
complexity  as  to  be  solvable  in  many  cases  only 
by  the  higher  mathematics. 

3.  That  substances  which  exhibit  neither 
memory,  nor  intelligence,  nor  life  can  invaria- 
bly act  in  accordance  with  such  laws. 

4.  That  such  uniformity  of  action  does  not 
presuppose  some  outward  influence  impressed 
upon  matter,  or  some  quality  of  motion  attach- 
ed by  creative  power  to  its  constituents,  for  if 
such  uniformity  of  conduct  does  involve  any 
extraneous  influence,  then  some  Thing  superior 
to  matter  is  required  in  the  organization  of 

18 


ATHEISM  19 

nature,  and  atheism  must  be  abandoned  for 
theism. 

5.  Inasmuch  as  there  is  in  all  nature  only  one 
power  capable  of  formulating  and  solving  its 
laws  mathematically,  namely,  the  intelligence  of 
man,  it  is  not  a  persuasive  inference  that  the 
Author  of  such  laws  must  have  possessed  the 
mental  faculties  man  possesses;  because  it  is 
inconceivable  to  suppose  a  Being  is  able  to 
create  except  in  a  few  isolated  instances,  what 
he  does  not  understand. 

In  view  of  these  propositions  addressed  to  the 
atheist,  and  because  no  atheist  has  ever  answer- 
ed either  of  them,  the  existence  of  an  intelligent 
and  all  powerful  Supreme  Being  is  rendered 
highly  probable. 


AGNOSTICISM 

The  agnostic  scientist  declares  he  has  no 
knowledge  of  God  on  which  to  found  even  a 
reasonable  hypothesis  of  His  nature. 

The  mistake  of  the  agnostic  is  he  demands 
conclusive  evidence  of  a  fact  which  he  does  not 
require,  and  cannot  obtain,  on  any  other  sub- 
ject. 

Man  has  no  capacity  beyond  the  mere  act  of 
moving  things.  His  whole  physical  existence 
is  spent  in  changing  the  position  of  particles  of 
matter  and  placing  them  in  new  relations  to  one 
another.  When  one  grasps  fully  the  narrow 
limit  of  his  powers,  the  vaunted  self-apprecia- 
tion of  his  capacity  dwindles  to  small  propor- 
tions. 

Nor  is  man's  knowledge  of  matter  of  any 
more  moment  than  his  power  over  it.  The 
learned  chemist  does  not  know,  for  example, 
why  the  union  of  one  atom  of  mercury  and  two 
of  chlorine  invariably  results  in  corrosive  sub- 
limate, and  of  two  atoms  of  mercury  and  two  of 
chlorine  forms  calomel.  The  biologist,  though 
surrounded  by  life  and  growth  on  every  side, 
does  not  understand  why  some  cells  divide  and 
others  multiply  from  within,  or  why  growth 
20 


AGNOSTICISM  21 

takes  place  at  all.  The  psychologist  is  equally 
at  a  loss  to  comprehend  the  underlying  princi- 
ples of  his  science  and  to  tell  us  how  the  mind 
performs  the  functions  of  memory,  or  even  why 
the  impress  of  a  picture  on  the  retina  gives  sight 
to  animals. 

And  yet  no  scientist  doubts  these  phenomena. 
He  knows  there  is  something  within  the  mer- 
cury, within  the  living  cell,  within  the  mind, 
some  occult  power,  some  inherent  quality  im- 
pressed upon  them  by  a  force  outside  of  the 
atoms,  beyond  his  own  power,  beyond  his  un- 
derstanding, that  makes  each  substance  act 
invariably  in  a  certain  manner — not  at  hap- 
hazard— but  with  such  obedience  to  definite  law 
that  the  law  itself,  in  some  cases,  may  be  formu- 
lated and  subjected  to  mathematical  analysis 
and  conclusions  reached  which  are  yet  beyond 
verification  by  experiment.  In  a  word,  the  ag- 
nostic demands  full  knowledge  of  the  Creator, 
convincing  proof  of  His  essence,  of  His  power, 
of  His  methods  of  creation,  when  he  has  not  the 
ability  to  understand  the  least  of  His  creations. 

In  matters  relating  to  his  special  field  of  in- 
vestigation the  agnostic  scientist  is  not  so  exact- 
ing as  when  he  approaches  the  subject  of  the 
Deity.  No  class  of  men  are  more  prone  to 
speculation  than  such  investigators.  Their  first 
effort  after  a  few  experiments  is  to  form  a  gen- 
eralization, and  hypothesis,  under  which  they 
group  the  facts  ascertained  and  from  thence 


22  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

deduce  the  past  and  future  order  of  events; 
and  each  one  believes  most  firmly  in  his  own 
particular  theory,  a  belief  as  strong  as  any 
Christian  experiences  when  he  thinks  of  his 
God. 

In  the  science,  for  example,  of  magnetism, 
some,  in  order  to  account  for  the  phenomena, 
affirm  that  an  ether  permeates  all  matter,  even 
the  densest  steel;  others  reject  this  view  and 
assert  that  motion  is  indestructible  and  that 
magnetism  is  due  to  the  vibrations  of  mole- 
cules; while  others  account  for  its  manifesta- 
tions by  polarity.  Notwithstanding  this  diver- 
sity, their  poverty  of  knowledge,  many  of 
these  men  believe  implicity  in  their  respective 
theories,  and  in  the  next  breath  deny  that 
all  the  testimony  of  design  exhibited  in 
nature,  in  the  very  science  they  are  investigat- 
ing, shows  any  evidence  of  an  intelligent  Crea- 
tor— thus  adopting  one  rule  of  investigation  as 
to  matters  in  which  their  hearts  are  interested 
and  prone  and  another  when  they  are  indiffer- 
ent or  adversely  biased. 

All  men  realize  that  human  judgment  is  often 
unreliable.  Twelve  jurors  hear  the  same  evi- 
dence, and  if  the  subject-matter  involves  ante- 
cedent prejudices  or  diverse  interests,  each 
juror  honestly  arrives  at  conclusions  in  accord- 
ance with  his  predelictions.  Nine  judges  chosen 
for  their  ability,  integrity,  and  learning,  some 
of  one  political  party  and  some  of  another,  hear 


AGNOSTICISM  23 

alike  all  the  facts  and  arguments  of  a  case  sub- 
mitted for  decision,  yet  each  arrives  at  different 
results  in  exact  conformity  to  his  political  bias, 
at  the  same  time  thoroughly  impressed  with  the 
soundness  of  his  views,  which  he  elaborates  in 
an  able  opinion. 

So  it  is,  a  man  not  wishing  to  be  bound  by 
the  restraints  of  the  decalogue  and  the  higher 
principles  of  Christian  life,  or  from  association, 
or  other  causes,  finds  little  difficulty  in  con- 
vincing himself  that  God  is  entirely  unknow- 
able, that  Christ  was  simply  man,  and  the  crim- 
inal laws  are  an  adequate  moral  code.  The 
religious  man  with  the  same  knowledge,  find- 
ing the  precepts  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments set  forth  rules  of  conduct  in  accordance 
with  his  own  aspirations,  contemplates  with 
pleasure  the  benignity,  the  love,  the  morality  of 
their  authors,  and  readily  believes  in  an  all-wise 
and  loving  God  and  merciful  Saviour. 

The  result  arrived  at  in  this  paragraph  is,  the 
conclusions  of  the  agnostic — of  even  Mr.  Her- 
bert Spencer,  a  truly  great  philosopher  and  a 
prince  of  "hypothesis,"  who  has  found  in 
nature  adequate  circumstantial  evidence  for 
belief  in  a  thousand  theories  regarding  life  and 
man,  but  no  evidence  of  an  intelligent  Crea- 
tor— are  from  his  inconsistency  entirely  value- 
less. 

No  man  can  comprehend  God — all  men  may 
apprehend  Him. 


AGNOSTICISM  AND  EVOLUTION 

A  fair  statement  of  the  main  principles  of  the 
theory  of  evolution  is  that  organic  life,  in  its 
efforts  to  accommodate  itself  to  its  environ- 
ment, is  able  to  modify  its  components  and  to 
transmit  such  modified  characteristics  to  its 
progeny.  Those  entities  which  cannot  adapt 
themselves  to  the  masterful  conditions  envelop- 
ing them  perish  in  the  struggle  for  life,  while 
those  modifying  themselves  to  such  conditions 
survive  as  the  fittest  to  live,  and  in  the  majority 
of  cases  perpetuate  their  species  accompanied  by 
such  desirable  acquired  characteristics. 

In  the  case  of  vegetation  where  physical  mat- 
ter is  alone  concerned,  evolution  finds  its  field 
for  modification  chiefly  in  structure.  With  all 
animals  intelligence  plays  a  most  important 
part  in  securing  food,  alliance  of  mates,  and 
escaping  dangers.  Evolution  of  the  mental 
faculties  is  to  them  no  less  important  than  the 
physical. 

With  regard  to  man,  inasmuch  as  he  pos- 
sesses a  high  social  and  moral  sense  in  addition 
to  other  qualities  common  to  all  animals,  the  in- 
dividuals who  regard  obligations — such  as 
truth,  fidelity  to  duty,  friendship,  etc. — have  in 
24 


AGNOSTICISM    AND   EVOLUTION  25 

all  ages,  savage  and  civilized,  been  preferred  to 
the  untrustworthy  and  selfish,  and  thereby  es- 
caped dangers,  secured  mates,  and  propagated 
offspring  partaking  of  these  characteristics. 

Evolution,  it  is  claimed,  has  therefore  grad- 
ually, but  most  efficiently,  been  raising  the  social 
and  moral  standard  of  mankind. 

Evolutionists  regard  these  laws  modifying 
species  as  inherent  in  organic  life  and  as  un- 
varying and  controlling  in  their  spheres  as  the 
laws  of  gravitation  in  their  domain. 

Christian  evolutionists  believe  they  are  the 
laws  of  God;  agnostic  evolutionists  that  they 
were  ordained  by  "They  do  not  know  whom  or 
how.'' 

But  both  schools  of  thought  are  generally 
agreed  there  is  something  in  nature  ever  tend- 
ing to  produce  higher  forms  of  life  out  of  the 
lower,  and  that  nothing  of  consequence,  when 
long  periods  and  great  numbers  are  considered, 
seems  to  exist  to  produce  a  retrograde  move- 
ment in  the  development  of  life. 

If  the  foregoing  be  a  fair  statement  of  the 
principles  of  evolution  so  far  as  they  concern 
mankind  as  a  social  and  moral  creature,  name- 
ly, his  truth,  his  performance  of  duty,  his 
friendship,  his  charity,  in  a  word,  his  altruism, 
and  if  laws  exist  in  harmony  with  and  impel- 
ling man  towards  such  moral  development,  then 
it  results — provided  the  following  facts  be  true 
— that  agnosticism  is  opposed  to  and   at  war 


26  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

with  these  laws  of  evolution,  and  that  Christi- 
anity is  a  most  powerful,  aye,  absolutely  the 
most  powerful  aid  such  laws  of  evolution  have 
ever  engaged. 

An  examination  of  the  directory  of  the  Bor- 
oughs of  Manhattan  and  Bronx,  composing  the 
central  part  of  the  City  of  New  York,  for  1902- 
1903  will  show  that  there  are  at  least  sixty- 
seven  asylums  and  homes  for  aged  men  and 
women,  friendless  girls,  orphans,  sick  seamen 
and  soldiers,  and  the  destitute  generally,  main- 
tained by  charitable  institutions  bearing  con- 
spicuously and  characteristically  a  name  asso- 
ciated with  Christ;  also  that  there  are  at  least 
four  hundred  and  twenty-six  Christian  church- 
es. These  churches  probably  will  have  an  aver- 
age membership  of  five  hundred  persons,  and 
each  church  one  society  or  guild  for  the  relief  of 
the  poor  and  sick,  making  four  hundred  and 
twenty-six  unincorporated  voluntary  organiza- 
tions at  work  in  the  field  of  Christian  charity 
and  righteousness.  There  are  seventeen  colleges 
and  academies,  twelve  nurseries,  fifteen  dispen- 
saries, thirteen  hospitals,  and  one  hundred  and 
fifty-five  societies  for  Christian  work,  all  using 
as  their  sign  a  name  distinctly  identified  with 
Christ,  and  if  it  be  estimated  that  one  hundred 
persons  are  on  an  average  affiliated  with  each 
of  the  foregoing  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
nine  incorporated  asylums  and  societies,  there 
results  that  two  hundred  and    forty   thousand 


viviyg 


AGNOSTICISM    AND   EVOLUTION  27 

Christian  men  and  women  out  of  one  million 
two  hundred  and  fifty-five  thousand  six  hun- 
dred and  seventy-six  adults  over  twenty  years 
of  age  (U.  S.  Census)  are  more  or  less  actively 
participating  in  the  moral  improvement  of  their 
fellow  citizens. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  writer  has  been  unable 
to  find  in  this  directory  a  single  society,  associa- 
tion, or  institution  whose  name  would  indicate 
its  members  were  agnostics  and  were  engaged 
in  any  work  designed  to  teach  men  truth,  the 
performance  of  duty,  or  the  extension  of  the 
hand  of  charity. 

If,  therefore,  there  be  some  ruler,  or  some 
power,  or  some  law  of  this  world  which  has  es- 
tablished the  laws  of  evolution  and  it  is  intend- 
ed by  such  power  for  its  nature  to  be  unknown 
and  unknowable,  then  such  supreme  power  has 
taken  the  very  best  means  to  thwart  its  purpose 
of  evolutionary  development  so  far  as  the  social 
and  moral  nature  of  man  is  concerned. 

But  such  a  conclusion  is  absurd,  and  in  pro- 
portion to  its  absurdity  is  agnosticism  indefen- 
sible. 

If  on  the  other  hand,  evolution  be  the  work 
of  design — and  it  seems  to  be  inconceivable 
for  so  much  correlation  in  nature  to  exist 
without  design, — then  the  extraordinary  use  of 
Christianity  in  the  social  and  moral  develop- 
ment of  man  is  a  strong  evidence  of  its  truthful- 
ness. 


PANTHEISM 

Pantheism  disputes  atheism  by  asserting 
there  is  a  God ;  it  contradicts  agnosticism  by  de- 
claring the  nature  of  God  is  known ;  it  attacks 
the  monotheism  of  Christianity  by  affirming 
God  resides  in  everything — in  the  rocks,  in 
water,  in  gases,  in  physical  life,  in  the  intellect 
of  animals,  in  the  moral  sense  of  man,  in  my 
consciousness. 

So  far  as  my  consciousness  is  concerned,  I 
have  no  sensation,  it  is  a  part  of  God — I  do  not 
feel  God  to  be  within  me,  or  any  part  of  me. 
On  the  contrary,  I  have  a  very  decided  appre- 
hension God  is  outside  of  me,  that  I  am  a  weak 
animal  of  very  limited  powers,  meagre  knowl- 
edge, and  imperfect  judgment.  I  feel  myself  to 
be  a  creature,  not  a  creator — a  creature  of  defi- 
nite functions  to  be  exercised  according  to  un- 
varying laws,  which  neither  my  ancestors  nor 
myself  have  had  any  part  in  establishing.  And 
if  neither  myself  nor  my  ancestors  established 
the  laws  of  nature,  whose  ancestors  have  ? 

I  have  no  reason  to  believe  other  men  are  on 

any  substantially   higher   plane    than    myself. 

Many  considerations  lead  me   to   believe   the 

lower  orders  of  animals  and  vegetable  life,  the 

28 


PANTHEISM  20/ 

fluids,  gases  and  rocks  would  be  possessed  of 
much  less  of  the  Godhead  than  myself. 

So  on  the  one  subject  I  understand  better 
than  any  other  in  whole  range  of  my  knowl- 
edge,— that  is,  my  consciousness, — I  have  not 
the  slightest  sensation  either  by  instinct  or  de- 
duction that  any  part  of  the  Godhead  resides 
in  me. 

To  set  up  therefore  a  theory  opposed  to  th(r 
first  principles  of  consciousness,  it  is  submitted, 
must  be  unsound  reasoning  on  which  to  account 
for  the  Primal  Cause,  for  in  all  other  matters, 
we  find  the  instincts  of  consciousness  are  truth- 
ful. 


In  the  absence  of  definite  demonstrable  knowl- 
edge and  where  probability  is  the  best  conclu- 
sion to  be  arrived  at,  analogy,  if  the  essential 
elements  of  the  cases  compared  are  similar,  fre- 
quently leads  to  a  reliable  deduction  and  is  the 
source  of  much  knowledge. 

The  argument  of  analogy  is  based  on  the  uni- 
versal experience  of  mankind  that  like  causes 
produce  like  effects  and  like  effects  may  be 
traced  backward  to  like  causes. 


30  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

Notwithstanding,  as  stated  in  the  preceding 
paragraph,  man's  power  over  physical  nature  is 
limited  to  the  moving  of  things,  yet  in  the 
realms  of  his  intellect  and  emotions  he  is  a 
creator. 

The  architect  having  a  conception  of  grand- 
eur and  of  fitness  caused  stones  to  be  moved 
together  into  definite  structural  positions 
which  hold  for  centuries  his  conceptions, 
apparent  to  men.  Yet  who  will  affirm  the 
relative  position  of  the  stones  is  still  a  part 
of  the  man  who  conceived  the  thoughts,  and 
whose  body  may  have  moulded  in  the  grave  for 
generations  ?  So  with  the  poet,  the  painter,  the 
inventor.  Surely  it  will  not  be  said  the  trage- 
dies of  Shakespeare  are  still  a  part  of  him,  a 
million  of  steam  engines  a  part  of  Fulton.  The 
intellectual  conceptions  incorporated  in  them 
were  their  creations,  they  went  out  from  them, 
and  when  gone  were  no  longer  part  of  their 
creators.  God  tints  the  evening  sky  with  beauty, 
the  painter  conceives  a  glorious  sunset  and 
fastens  its  evanescent  beauty  on  his  canvas.  God 
fills  the  world  with  pathos  and  love  and  patriot- 
ism, the  gifted  novelist  creates  the  same  emo- 
tions and  holds  his  reader  with  tearful  eyes. 
Turner  is  dead  and  Walter  Scott  is  dead,  but 
their  creations  still  live.  When  once  given 
birth  they  were  no  longer  part  of  their  creators. 

So  by  analogy  is  it  not  probable  that  the 
-creations  of  beauty  and  sublimity  and  patriot- 


PANTHEISM  31 

ism  do  not  embody  the  essence   of  the   Being 
which  brought  them  into  existence  ? 

Pantheism  by  its  definition  incorporates  God 
in  these  thoughts  and  emotions  as  much  as  it 
does  in  the  rocks. 


An  argument  against  pantheism  is  the  law  of 
evolution.  Geological  and  biological  investiga- 
tions certainly  demonstrate,  if  they  show  any- 
thing, that  life  has  been  evolved  to  higher  and 
not  lower  states.  If  we  confine  the  argument  to 
man  we  find  him  endowed  with  a  physical,  intel- 
lectual, and  moral  nature.  To  attain  the  high- 
est results  these  three  components  must  develop 
with  practically  equal  steps.  It  is  now  well  rec- 
ognized that  the  best  specimens  of  manhood 
cannot  be  produced  unless  a  man  be  physically 
and  morally  as  well  as  intellectually  strong.  A 
deficiency  in  any  one  of  these  important  char- 
acteristics puts  him  out  of  the  race  with  men 
who  possess  them  in  a  greater  degree.  Some 
place  morals  first,  others  intellect,  and  others  a 
strong  body.  For  the  perfect  man  they  should 
stand  abreast. 

Now  man  is  in  many  respects  an  imitative 
animal.     Nothing  is  better  known  than  that  he 


32  THE  TESTIMONY  OF   REASON 

is  raised  by  association  with  virtue  and  lowered 
by  contact  with  vice — he  is  elevated  by  the  en- 
nobling thoughts  of  truth,  of  love,  and  of  char- 
ity; of  power  and  of  wisdom. 

To  conceive,  therefore,  that  the  Godhead  re- 
sides in  matter,  in  low  unclean  animals,  in 
vicious  beasts  and  men,  would  if  thoroughly  be- 
lieved debase  the  believer  and  end  in  pagan 
idolatry.  While  on  the  other  hand  nothing  has 
done  more  for  the  elevation  of  the  human  race 
in  Christian  lands  than  the  high  moral  con- 
ceptions it  has  entertained  of  its  God — clothing 
Him  with  majesty  and  glory,  with  wisdom  and 
every  virtue,  and  which  it  feebly  and  for- 
ever most  imperfectly  endeavors  to  imitate,  yet 
in  the  imitation  evolves  a  nobler  creature. 

If  evolution  be  true,  then  pantheism  cannot 
be. 


The  only  creative  power  on  this  earth  is 
intellect,  and  the  highest  intellect  is  that  of  man. 
As  stated  above,  such  creative  power  is  limited 
to  mental  conceptions — as  beauty,  sublimity, 
adaptability,  love,  fear,  etc. — and  the  ability  to 
move  matter  into  positions  to  represent  them. 
These  conceptions  are  analogous  to  some  of  the 
phenomena  observed  in  nature. 


PANTHEISM  33 

Is  it  not  then  in  the  absence  of  all  demonstra- 
tive knowledge  on  the  subject,  a  fair  inference 
that  the  Creator  of  these  analogous  conceptions 
in  nature  possesses  intellectuality  the  same  as 
man? 

To  reject  this  only  source  of  rationalistic 
knowledge  and  adopt  the  fanciful  hypothesis 
that  the  Creator  resides  in  all  things — in  stones 
and  water,  an  hypothesis  at  war  with  all  our 
knowledge — does  seem  to  be  contrary  to  princi- 
ples of  sound  analogy. 


EVOLUTION  AND  THE  MORAL  SENSE 

Agnostic  evolutionists  endeavor  to  account 
for  the  human  idea  of  God  and  morality  by  de- 
claring both  of  these  conceptions  to  be  the  re- 
sult of  deductions  from  experience  and  the 
transmission  of  the  impress  of  such  experience 
after  the  manner  of  instincts  to  progeny. 

The  primitive  idea  of  God,  they  affirm,  was 
derived  from  nature,  as,  in  the  return  of  boun- 
tiful summer  with  the  sun;  by  the  downfall  of 
the  beneficent  rain  with  clouds;  from  the  fear' 
inspired  by  tornado,  by  lightning  and  thunder ; 
by  birth ;  by  disease ;  by  death,  and  innumerable 
other  occurrences  which  impressed  themselves 
powerfully  on  the  minds  of  early  men,  and  all 
of  which  were  outside  of  them  and  beyond  their 
control. 

Hence,  the  conception  of  a  supernatural  being 
was  begotten  and  transmitted  by  heredity.  The 
Christian  theist  has  no  complaint  with  this 
theory.  A  material  part  of  the  argument  herein 
advanced  is  built  upon  man's  recognition  of 
the  Diety  from  His  works — that  God  speaks  to 
mankind  in  every  phenomenon  of  nature,  in 
every  evidence  of  design;  that  it  is  impossible 
from  human  experience,  which  is  that  no  corre- 

34 


EVOLUTION   AND  THE  MORAL  SENSE         35 

lation  of  parts  exists  to  produce  definite  results 
without  an  intelligent  designer,  for  man  to  con- 
ceive the  myriad  evidences  of  design  in  nature 
were  the  outcome  of  blind  chance  and  not  the 
result  of  intelligence  commensurate  with  the  in- 
tricacy and  extent  of  the  combinations  and  re- 
sults. 

In  regard  to  morality  or  man's  duty  to  man, 
the  agnostic  evolutionist  asserts  that  inasmuch 
as  all  men  in  all  ages  have  perceived  truth  and 
justice  and  charity  have  been  beneficial  to  them- 
selves, that  these  qualities  have  been  cultivated 
to  an  extent  adequate  to  become  hereditary. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  in  many  cases  mor- 
ality and  a  predilection  to  vice  have  been  trans- 
mitted to  offspring ;  that  all  sensible  men  recog- 
nize the  practice  of  these  virtues  contribute  to 
their  well  being,  and  that  such  charactertistics 
are,  as  a  rule,  improved  by  association,  intelli- 
gence and  education.  To  this  extent  the  theist 
agrees  with  the  agnostic.  But  the  Christian 
theist  goes  further  and  affirms  man  in  his  rela- 
tions to  man  is  a  part  of  nature ;  that  the  prac- 
tice of  truth,  justice  and  charity  is  as  necessary 
for  the  life  and  development  of  the  human 
species  as  gravitation  is  for  the  certain  return 
of  the  seasons.  If  gravitation  is  perceived  to 
be  the  work  of  an  intelligent  Creator,  why 
should  not  truth,  justice  and  charity,  as  essen- 
tial in  their  sphere,  have  the  same  source? 


36  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

Furthermore,  the  Christian  theist  asserts 
there  are  special  reasons  for  believing  the  above 
moral  qualities  spring  from  God.  In  the 
entire  domain  of  nature  there  is  nothing  but 
truth.  No  deception  exists  in  any  physical 
phenomenon.  There  is  no  injustice;  no  dis- 
crimination between  mortals.  Rain  and  sun- 
shine and  death  await  all  with  impartiality. 
God's  providence  is  full  of  charity  and  kind- 
ness. How  many  weak  mortals  are  constantly 
violating  the  laws  of  nature  without  suffering 
annihilation  which  has  come  to  others  for  the 
same  offence  ?  How  many  have  sinned,  and  not 
been  found  out,  while  others  for  less  offences 
have  suffered  ignominy? 

With  such  constantly  recurring  exhibitions 
of  truth,  justice  and  charity  proceeding  from 
the  Creator  as  their  source ;  with  truth,  justice 
and  charity  as  the  very  foundation  on  which 
man's  evolution  must  be  built,  and  which  are 
in  perfect  accord  with  the  higher  and  higher 
development  of  this  world,  is  not  the  probabil- 
ity convincing  enough  on  which  to  base  belief 
and  action  that  these  moral  attributes  of  man 
have  proceeded  from  the  same  high  source  ? 


SCIENCE 

To  the  Christian  mind  there  cannot  be  any 
contradiction  between  truly  ascertained  facts  of 
nature  and  truly  interpreted  revelation.  They 
both  proceed  from  the  Godhead — and  God's 
works  are  harmonious. 

If  a  fact  of  nature  should  be  demonstrated 
beyond  doubt,  and  it  should  be  contrary  to 
assumed  revelation,  the  theologist  should  revise 
his  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  and  ascer- 
tain his  error.  On  the  other  hand,  where  there 
is  a  plain  and  unmistakable  revelation  opposed 
to  an  unverified  scientific  theory,  the  theory 
should  be  scrutinized  again  for  its  error.  The 
past  history  of  the  sciences  of  physics  and  of 
theology  demonstrates  that  neither  are  entitled 
to  be  considered  infallible.  Nothing  is  better 
known  than  the  fact  that  the  scientific  truths  of 
one  age  have  been  displaced  by  those  of  the  fol- 
lowing, and  these  in  turn  shown  to  be  errone- 
ous by  still  later  investigations.  So  that  none 
can  affirm  that  a  number  of  the  accepted  theo- 
ries of  the  present  time  may  not  be  displaced  in 
the  next  century.  The  brevity  of  these  discus- 
sions does  not  allow  of  the  enumeration  of  the 
many  changes  in  theories  which  have  occurred 

37 


38  THE  TESTIMONY   OF  REASON 

in  chemistry,  astronomy,  geology,  and  biology, 
and  unless  man  has  attained  the  ultimate  limit 
of  knowledge — which  no  scientist  will  affirm — 
it  is  likely  present  conclusions  must  be  abandon- 
ed or  modified,  and  new  ones  take  their  place. 

So  with  theology.  This  science  has  been 
altered  to  conform  to  ascertained  facts,  and 
some  of  its  cherished  beliefs  will  doubtless  be 
modified  in  the  future. 

One  instance  each  of  the  remolding  of  theo- 
ries in  the  sciences  of  nature  and  of  theology 
must  suffice.  The  sun  is  losing  heat  by  radia- 
tion into  space  at  an  inconceivably  enormous 
rate.  Investigation  does  not  show  adequate 
cooling  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  heat, 
given  off.  To  account  for  this  discrepancy 
scientists  fifty  years  ago  generally  accepted  the 
conclusion  that  the  heat  was  maintained  by  the 
falling  of  meteors  into  the  sun  attracted  from 
space  by  its  immense  mass.  At  the  present  date 
this  theory  has  been  generally  abandoned  as  in- 
sufficient to  account  for  the  ascertained  phe- 
nomena— although  many  meteors  doubtless  do 
fall  into  the  sun — and  another  substituted, 
namely,  that  the  sun  is  in  a  gaseous,  incandes- 
cent state,  and  by  the  force  of  its  gravitation  is 
condensing  to  a  smaller  sphere,  and  in  conse- 
quence of  such  condensation  is  giving  off  its 
heat,  just  as  air,  gases,  or  any  other  matter 
when  condensed  parts  with  its  heat. 


SCIENCE  39 

In  a  former  century  Galileo  adopted  the 
Copernican  theory,  and  asserted  that  instead  of 
the  sun  moving  around  the  earth  every  day,  it 
remained  practically  at  the  center  of  the  earth's 
orbit  and  the  earth  itself  revolved  on  its  axis  in 
twenty-four  hours.  This  announcement  was 
received  by  the  ecclesiastics  with  horror,  and 
was  pronounced  by, them  to., be  "heretical  and 
contrary  to  faith."  Galileo  was  placed  under 
arrest  and  sentence.  Since  then  churchmen 
have,  in  view  of  the  well-ascertained  truths  of 
astronomy,  modified  their  theology.  But  many 
persons  declared  there  was  no  truth  in  the 
Scriptures  and  became  infidels,  just  as  many 
have  done  since  the  theory  of  evolution  has  been 
discussed. 

But  there  is  no  more  real  antagonism  between 
evolution  and  the  Scriptures  than  there  was 
between  the  daily  revolution  of  the  earth  on  its 
axis  and  the  Old  Testament.  One  of  the  most 
important  assumed  contradictions  between  the 
theory  of  evolution  and  revelation  is  the  Mosaic 
account  of  the  creation,  and  particularly  the  use 
of  the  word  "day"  in  giving  the  order  of 
sequence  of  the  cosmogony.  But  clearly  the 
term  "day"  may  not  have  been  understood  by 
the  inspired  writer  in  the  restricted  sense  of 
twenty-four  hours.  Nothing  changes  more 
than  the  meaning  of  words,  and  particularly 
their  use  by  early  unscientific  writers  when 
compared  to  the  more  exact  lexicography  of  the 


40  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

present  time.  The  expression  "day"  may 
originally  have  designated  a  cycle,  an  era,  an 
epoch — for  a  thousand  years,  aye,  a  million,  in 
the  sight  of  God,  may  be  as  one  day,  as  a  watch 
in  the  night. 


SCIENCE  AND  COSMOGONY 

As  stated  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  the 
truly  ascertained  facts  of  Nature  and  correctly 
interpreted  Revelation  being  both  emanations 
from  God,  there  can  be  no  antagonism  between 
them.  It  is  therefore  important  to  understand 
clearly  what  Revelation  teaches  and  to  test  its 
important  facts  with  truth  derived  from  Na- 
ture. 

I.  Revelation  declares  that  an  all  powerful, 
all  intelligent  God  created  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  and  all  that  therein  is. 

Does  Science  in  any  domain  of  its  investiga- 
tions contradict  this  proposition?  No  astron- 
omer can  point  to  one  ascertained  fact  in  dis- 
proof. No  geologist  can  even  suggest  any  other 
creator  for  the  rocks.  They  may  shield  them- 
selves behind  agnosticism  and  declare  they  have 
no  proof — that  they  do  not  know  how  nature 
came — but  this  position  is  not  inconsistent  with 
revelation  that  God  made  them.  It  neither  af- 
firms nor  denies. 

No  biologist  has  created  the  spark  of  life.  So 
far  as  we  know,  life  is  an  unbroken  chain  from 
the  dawn  of  creation  to  the  present  instant.  It 
may  be  that  all,  even  the  highest  animals,  have 

41 


42  THE  TESTIMONY   OF   REASON 

developed  from  a  single  protoplasmic  cell.  But 
this  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  Mosaic  cos- 
mogony, or  incompatible  with  God's  creation 
of  them. 

Modern  scientific  research  has  generally 
agreed  upon  the  following  order  of  events  in 
the  evolution  of  nature. 

i.  There  existed  gaseous  or  nebulous  mat- 
ter without  form. 

2.  In  this  attenuated  state  the  matter  was 
dark. 

3.  Under  the  influence  of  the  laws  of  gravi- 
tation such  matter  aggregated  and  by  condensa- 
tion emitted  heat  and  light. 

4.  The  aggregation  of  matter  towards  a 
center  of  gravity  produced  a  rotary  motion.' 
Those  revolving  masses  of  matter  having  their 
surfaces  next  to  the  great  incandescent  central 
masses  would  be  illuminated,  while  the  opposite 
sides  would  be  dark.  This  constituted  the  first 
division  of  light  and  darkness,  or  day  and 
night.  The  above  sequence  of  events  is  in  ex- 
act accord  with  the  Mosaic  account. 

5.  The  influence  of  gravitation  in  forming 
globes  of  these  inconceivably  great  nebulous 
masses,  necessarily  made  concrete  suns,  comets, 
etc. 

This  constitutes  the  Mosaic  firmament  called 
Heaven — we  also  call  it  "The  Heavens" — and 
indicates  the  formation  of  suns  as  distinguished 
from  the  planetary  systems  of  suns.     Accord- 


SCIENCE  AND   COSMOGONY  43 

ing  to  Genesis  and  Science  this  was  accomplish- 
ed next  after  the  creation  of  light. 

6.  In  the  earliest  epochs  of  creation  two  of 
the  most  important  and  largely  distributed 
gases  were  hydrogen  and  oxygen.  The  union 
of  these  constituted  then,  as  now,  water.  So 
universal  was  the  vapor  of  water,  and  water, 
before,  the  formation  of  rocks,  and  so  liquid  is 
liighly '  heated  matter,  all  the  planets  might 
fairly  be  described  as  waters,  and  when  the  cen- 
trifugal force  of  any  revolving  mass  was 
greater  than  its  centripetal  force,  a  portion 
would  be  thrown  off  with  an  independent  revo- 
lution, and  "divide  the  waters  from  the  waters." 
Thus  was  constituted  the  planetary  systems  of 
all  the  great  suns  including  our  own. 

This  is  the  order  usually  stated  in  nebular 
hypotheses,  viz:  first  the  conglomeration  of  a 
central  sun,  and  next  the  throwing  off  of  at- 
tendent  planets.  This  is  also  the  order  of  cre- 
ation as  narrated  by  Moses. 

7.  We  now  come  to  the  consideration  of  the 
earth.  As  stated  above,  in  the  earliest  periods 
of  its  creation,  the  vapor  of  water  and  water 
were  one  of  the  most  abundant  compounds.  Ge- 
ologists can  state  only  approximately  the  incon- 
ceivably great  quantity  of  water  contained  in 
the  rocks,  crystals,  and  other  substances  of  the 
earth's  surface.  There  is  practically  nothing 
anhydrous.  So  that  by  the  absorption  of  water 
in  the  formation  of  solids,  by  its  percolation 


44  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

into  the  strata  of  the  earth,  where  it  became 
heated  and  formed  steam  and  raised  the  earth's 
surface,  dry  land  and  seas  were  formed — for 
the  elevation  of  land  at  one  place  of  necessity 
lowers  level  at  another.  The  usual  geological 
account  of  creation  calls  for  plant  life  next  af- 
ter the  appearance  of  dry  land.  The  carbonif- 
erous era  in  which  the  great  coal  measures  were 
laid,  and  their  depths,  even  on  the  sides  of 
mountains,  show  indubitably  their  very  early 
origin. 

The  above  events  practically  correspond  in 
exact  order  with  the  third  Mosaic  day. 

8.  Prior,  and  extending,  to  nearly  the  close 
of  the  carboniferous  state  of  the  earth's  exist- 
ence, in  consequence  of  the  vast  quantity  of 
water  on  its  surface,  of  its  own  internal  heat, 
and  the  higher  heat  of  the  sun  than  at  present, 
immense  masses  of  vapors  or  clouds  obscured  at 
all  times  the  sun  and  stars,  but  not  their  light — 
as  is  probably  the  case  with  the  planet  Venus  at 
this  day. 

Then  on  the  disappearance  of  the  thick  en- 
velope of  vapor  the  stars  for  the  first  time  ap- 
peared and  with  them  the  disks  of  the  sun  and 
moon,  which  "marked  the  seasons  and  days  and 
years." 

Here  again  science  and  the  Mosaic  account 
coincide. 

9.  The  geologist  and  biologist  and  Moses 
are  agreed  the  first  of  life  was  begotten  in  the 


SCIENCE  AND  COSMOGONY  4$' 

waters,  and  began  possibly  in  the  Laurentian 
seas.  Briefly,  it  developed  from  foraminiferae 
through  fishes  to  amphibuous  animals  and 
swimming  mammals. 

10.  There  are  in  museums  of  natural  history 
the  fossil  remains  of  half  reptiles  and  half  birds, 
showing  a  gradual  transformation  of  some  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  water  into  "winged 
fowls."  This  constitutes  a  remarkable  confir- 
mation of  the  record  of  Genesis,  for  "winged 
fowls"  were  created  immediately  after  the 
things  which  "moved  in  the  waters." 

11.  Next,  the  rocks  and  sediments  of  the 
earth's  crust  show  "winged  fowls"  developed 
into  creatures  with  teeth  like  bats,  some  living 
no  longer  on  grass  and  seeds  but  on  insects  and 
flesh;  in  other  cases  expanding  toes  became 
fewer  in  number,  the  wings  changing  into 
dwarfed  forelegs,  like  the  kangaroo  which 
brings  forth  its  young  in  an  immature  state. 
Thus  in  the  cycles  of  time  the  cloven  hoofed  an- 
imals were  produced,  that  is,  cattle  and  swine 
and  the  Mosaic  order  is  cattle  next  after  the 
fowls.  Some  mammalia  and  snakes  have  been 
found  in  the  deposits  of  the  Eocene  period,  and 
following  their  advent,  animals  of  the  field 
came  generally  in  the  Miocene,  the  next  era. 
The  twenty- fourth  verse  of  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis  records  this  same  succession. 

12.  Scientific  men  agree  that  the  theory  of 
evolution  places  man's  creation  as  the  last.  The 
scriptural  account  does  the  same. 


/\ 


46  THE   TESTIMONY   OF   REASON 

It  will  hardly  be  contended  that  when  the  ac- 
count of  the  creation  was  written  mankind  was 
learned  in  natural  science.  There  is  no  writing 
extant  to  show  men  were  skilled  in  astronomy, 
or  possessed  of  telescopes  so  necessary  for 
ascertaining  the  nature  of  the  firmament.  There 
was  no  knowledge  of  gaseous  or  nebulous 
masses  or  conditions,  or  of  the  laws  of  gravi- 
tation and  their  effects  in  producing  heat,  light, 
rotation,  suns,  and  planetary  systems,  and 
yet  in  the  six  preceding  items  we  have  an  accu- 
rate outline  of  the  nebular  hypothesis  which  has 
received  general  acceptance  since  the  days  of 
Laplace,  and  stated  in  the  exact  order  of  occur- 
rence. 

The  Mosaic  narrative  gives  great  prominence 
to  the  order  or  succession  of  events.  This,,  it 
seems,  is  apparently  of  more  importance  than 
any  other  one  characteristic  of  the  recital. 
Clearly,  it  places  its  own  credibility  upon  its 
order  of  the  narration  and  impliedly  challenges 
contradiction. 

As  enumerated  above  there  are  six  distinct 
and  well  ascertained  agreements  between  the 
Mosaic  account  and  the  cosmic  order  of  nature. 
There  has  not  been,  so  far  as  the  writer 
is  aware,  one  event  in  the  formation  of  the  firm- 
ament narrated  by  Moses  which  has  been  shown 
to  be  out  of  its  natural  sequence. 

Now  when  there  are  six  events  of  such  uncer- 
tain order  of  occurrence  as  the  above  and  which 


SCIENCE  AND   COSMOGONY  47 

an  unlearned  mind  on  the  subject  has  to  place 
in  correct  order  the  chances  are  719  to  one  that 
he  will  misplace  them. 

When  to  these  odds  are  added  the  statements 
that  matter  was  at  first  nebulous,  and  its  then 
attenuated  state  was  dark,  that  under  the  influ- 
ence of  gravitation  it  became  luminous  and  de- 
scribed orbits,  and  formed  suns  which  turned  on 
their  axes,  and  threw  off  attendant  planets,  the 
conclusion  is  irresistible  that  some  mind  more 
learned  than  man's  at  that  day,  indited  the 
story. 

We  have  also  reason  to  believe,  when  Moses 
wrote  geological  and  biological  science  was 
unknown.  No  man  then  knew  whether  fishes 
were  produced  before  fowls,  or  man  before  cat- 
tle. Each  division  of  animal  life  was  apparent- 
ly distinct  from  the  other. 

When  there  are  four  independent  facts  to  be 
stated  by  a  person  without  knowledge  to  guide 
their  arrangement  there  are  23  chances  to  one 
he  will  name  them  in  the  wrong  order.  But 
Moses  placed  them  in  the  succession  since 
assigned  by  geological  evolutionists. 

It  seems  to  my  mind  that  this  demonstration 
is  conclusive  of  the  Inspiration  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament. 

If  this  Book  be  inspired  then  it  follows  an  in- 
telligent God  exists;  from  the  existence  of  an 
intelligent  God  who  revealed  the  Mosaic  ac- 


48  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

count  of  the  Creation,  it  follows  that  He  was 
the  God  of  the  Old  Testament ;  from  His  being 
the  God  of  the  Old  Testament  it  follows  as  the 
New  Testament  is  a  continuation  of  the  Old 
Testament  that  He  is  the  God  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament. 


SCIENCE  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

The  second  and  remaining  primary  truth  of 
revelation  is  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  Son  of 
God  and  that  he  arose  from  the  dead. 

Does  science  disprove  these  facts  ?  If  so,  in 
what  division  of  science  is  it  to  be  found  ?  The 
sole  argument  against  them  is,  no  man  living 
has  seen  a  dead  man  come  to  life.  If  the  facts 
of  the  case  ended  there,  if  no  other  considera- 
tion entered  into  the  subject  than  the  return  of 
life  to  a  cadaver,  the  argument  would  appar* 
ently  be  conclusive. 

But  the  Christian  religion  is  founded  essen- 
tially and  avowedly  on  the  supernatural.  The 
immaculate  conception  of  Jesus,  His  miracles 
contravening  the  ordinary  laws  of  nature,  His 
resurrection,  are  each  and  all  above  nature.  All 
science  can  say,  it  is  beyond  its  domain,  there 
is  nothing  in  nature  like  it — more,  it  may  even 
truthfully  say  the  burden  of  proof  is  on  the 
Christian.  To  this  the  disciples  of  Christ  en- 
thusiastically answer  they  accept  the  challenge, 
and  point,  First,  to  the  wonderful  laws  which 
govern  the  universe  as  evidence  of  an  all-wise 
and  intelligent  Supreme  Being — a  Supernatural 
Being  as  their  Creator.      Second,   That  the 

49 


50  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

results  of  these  laws — namely,  the  harmonious 
revolutions  of  the  sun  and  his  system  of  planets 
and  their  effects,  the  development  on  this  earth 
of  inorganic  matter  and  of  organic  life  in  such 
remarkable  unison  and  sympathy,  the  blue  sky, 
the  liquid  waters,  the  green  fields  and  fruits  and 
grain,  the  wonderful  mechanism  of  animals, 
aye,  even  the  ability  of  vegetable  and  animal  life 
to  evolve  according  to  definite  laws ;  the  domes- 
tic happiness  of  all  creatures,  their  love  of  life, 
the  myriad  unperceived  mercies  and  pleasures 
they  enjoy,  the  higher  and  nobler  life  of  man — 
all  point  to  and  demonstrate  that  this  Super- 
natural Being  cares  for,  aye,  loves  every  living 
thing. 

Granted  such  a  Being  exists — and  no  other 
hypothesis  accounts  for  nature — and  loves  his 
creatures,  what  more  probable  conclusion,  in 
order  to  appeal  to  this  higher  nature  of  man,  to 
lead  him  to  a  still  nobler  life,  to  carry  out  His 
own  beneficent  designs  that  higher  and  yet 
higher  creations  are  in  the  order  of  His  Fore- 
knowledge and  Design,  than  that  God  should 
come  Himself  on  earth  to  man,  in  the  most 
sympathetic  and  appealing  manner,  namely,  as 
a  man  in  human  flesh  so  as  to  be  perceived  and 
known  by  men?  Would  such  conduct  be  be- 
yond the  measure  of  His  love  or  the  range  of 
His  power  ?  Nothing  is  more  likely  to  a  Being 
who  has  created  this  beautiful  world  and 
allowed  His  creatures  to  adapt  themselves  so 


SCIENCE  AND  CHRISTIANITY  5 1 

joyously  to  it.  Would- such  a  Father  confine 
Himself  to  administering  only  to  the  demands 
of  the  body?  Does  not  an  earthly  father  seek 
to  improve  the  morals  and  best  nature  of  his 
son  ?  Is  not  God  as  loving  as  the  man  of  this 
earth  ? 

This  Supernatural  Being  saw  below  Him  a 
part  of  His  creation  possessed  of  intellectual 
and  moral  attributes.  It  needed  greater  direc- 
tion and  development.  In  His  providence  the 
time  had  come  for  a  great  advance,  physically, 
intellectually,  and  morally.  This  advance  could 
not  take  place  in  the  natural  order  of  events 
without  increased  morality  among  men.  Peace 
must  abide  for  the  mind  to  apply  itself  to  the 
arts  and  sciences.  He  therefore  sent  His  Son, 
"The  Prince  of  Peace." 

If  there  was  no  other  argument  in  favor  of 
the  divinity  of  Christ  than  the  advance  of  the 
human  race  since  and  in  consequence  of  His 
ministry,  its  amazing  development  should  be 
enough  to  convince  any  unbiased  mind  of  the 
truth  of  Christ's  resurrection. 

Surely  an  all-truthful,  all-loving,  and  care- 
taking  God  would  not  have  allowed  this  extra- 
ordinary progress  of  the  human  race  to  have 
been  based  on,  and  to  continue  as,  a  result  of  a 
falsehood.  Even  men  in  the  affairs  of  this 
world,  when  important  matters  are  involved, 
are  almost  universally  truthful. 


52  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

The  argument  results  in  this,  to  reject  Christ 
is  to  reject  God  as  a  loving  and  truthful  Ruler 
of  the  world ;  to  accept  God  is  to  accept  Christ ; 
to  accept  Christ  involves  belief  in  His  truthful- 
ness ;  that  is,  in  His  divinity  and  resurrection. 


IMMORTALITY  AND  TRUTH 

Assuming  an  intelligent  God  created  the 
world,  I  think  it  results  from  the  following 
chain  of  purely  rational  argumentation  that  the 
moral  nature  of  man  is  immortal. 

The  most  obtrusive  fact  while  studying  the 
physical  laws  of  nature  is  their  unvarying  char- 
acter. Gravitation  is  invariably  ready  to  assert 
itself;  the  laws  of  light,  of  heat,  and  of  sound 
are  unfailing,  and  so  on  in  the  entire  domain  of 
nature  there  is  no  shadow  of  an  exception,  no 
variableness,  no  deception. 

The  moral  laws  encompassing  mankind  on 
every  side  are  no  less  certain.  To  deny  there 
is  a  God  surely  reduces  the  atheist  to  a  lower 
plane  of  manhood.  He  is  not  the  joyous  man 
of  elevated  and  ennobling  aspiration  as  he  who 
bows  in  reverence  to  the  Creator.  To  take  His 
Holy  Name  in  vain  brings  the  defamer  into  dis- 
repute. To  dishonor  one's  father  and  mother, 
the  offender  dishonors  himself.  To  murder,  to 
steal,  to  commit  adultery,  to  lie,  and  to  covet 
are  all  visited  by  disapprobation,  loss  of  respect, 
or  infamy  to  the  violator's  good  name  and 
worldly  success  and  happiness.  These  moral 
laws  are  universal,  certain  in  their  consequences 
and  truthful. 
53 


54  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

So  far  then  as  the  nature  of  God  may  be 
judged  from  His  works,  it  may  be  affirmed  that 
one  of  His  predominating  characteristics  is 
Truth;  and  this  is  the  major  premise  of  the 
argument. 

Man  is  certainly,  either  immediately,  or  re- 
motely by  evolution,  the  creation  of  God;  but 
whether  one  or  the  other  he  is  His  creature. 
He  is  so  far  as  this  earth  is  concerned  His  high- 
est and  best  creation — a  creation  wherein  he  has 
allowed  a  mental  development  to  expand  until  it 
has  the  ability  to  solve  and  thoroughly  under- 
stand a  number  of  His  most  intricate  phe- 
nomena and  laws,  and  a  moral  nature  to  possess 
him  which  teaches  him  right  and  wrong,  with 
an  active  conscience  to  render  him  happy  or  to 
sting  him  with  remorse,  dependent  upon 
whether  he  pursues  the  good  or  abandons  him- 
self to  evil,  and  as  a  part  of  this  conscience  a 
recognition  of  God,  and  hope  and  belief,  as  far 
as  things  unseen  can  be  believed,  in  immortality. 

In  the  next  place,  God  has  developed,  or 
allowed  to  be  developed — which  is  the  same 
thing,  in  a  Creator  having  the  power  to  order 
differently — in  man  a  mental  and  moral  intel- 
lectuality qualifying  him  to  believe  in  Immor- 
tality. Again,  God  has  allowed  this  sentiment 
to  be  born  in  the  hearts  of  nearly  all  men,  sav- 
age and  civilized,  as  a  part  of  their  very  being, 
but  more  or  less  perfectly  and  nobly,  when  not 
perverted  by  false  reasonings,  as  the  individual 
has  attained  intellectuality. 


IMMORTALITY  AND  TRUTH  55 

To  permit  this  idea  to  be  taken  possession  of 
by  mankind,  to  become  a  part  of  the  warp  and 
woof  of  life,  to  modify  its  actions  in  the  most 
important  concerns  of  its  existence,  and  then 
for  it  to  be  a  dream,  a  falsehood,  is  to  impeach 
the  truthfulness  of  God's  dealings  with  man,  is 
to  charge  His  inconceivable  Righteousness  and 
Holiness  with  practicing  a  deception  on  His 
creatures  and  all  for  no  motive  and  no  profit  to 
Himself. 

The  argument  reduces  itself  to  this,  unless 
God  has  deceived  man,  He  intends  him  to  enjoy 
immortality.  And  as  confirmatory  of  this  con- 
clusion, let  it  be  noticed,  as  far  as  we  can  judge, 
this  hope,  this  idea  of  immortality  is  confined  to 
the  genus  Man  and  denied  to  all  the  lower 
creation. 


SIN 

Without  attempting  to  pass  a  theological 
judgment  upon  any  subject  discussed,  it  being 
entirely  foreign  to  the  scope  of  this  book,  and 
consequently  on  the  question  whether  the  ac- 
count in  Genesis  as  to  the  fall  of  Adam  and  the 
introduction  of  sin  in  this  world  was  allegorical 
or  is  to  be  taken  in  its  literal  sense,  it  is  never- 
theless probable  in  a  purely  rational  considera- 
tion of  the  subject,  that  the  feeble  powers  of 
man  in  contest  with  his  natural  environment  ac- 
count for  many  of  the  sins  to  which  he  is 
addicted,  and  afford  a  strong  corrobation  to  the 
truth  of  the  Genesis  narrative  that  man's  dis- 
obedience and  sin  were  indissolubly  linked  with 
the  earning  of  his  bread  by  the  sweat  of  his 
brow. 

Man  is  an  animal.  He  must  eat,  and  have 
raiment  and  shelter  for  his  body.  He,  for  the 
most  part,  finds  himself  in  a  climate  and  on  a 
soil  yielding  after  his  best  efforts  scarcely  more 
than  enough  to  feed,  clothe,  and  house  himself 
and  his  family.  He  looks  around  and  discovers 
others  in  sharp  competition  with  himself.  Self- 
ishness is  begotten  in  his  heart,  and  all  the  sins 
which  have  their  roots  in  it.  His  body  is  often 

56 


sin  57 

weak,  sometimes  he  cannot  even  work.  His 
necessities,  actual  or  from  habit,  or  from  desire 
to  please  those  dependent  on  him,  urge  him  to 
appropriate  what  belongs  to  others,  or  to  cir- 
cumvent them  by  false  pretenses.  Thus  is  born 
the  sin  of  theft.  Occasionally,  concomitant 
with  theft,  follows  murder — always,  if  detec- 
tion can  be  prevented,  lies.  Covetousness  is 
the  father  of  fraud. 


SIN  PERMITTED 

It  follows  logically  from  the  foregoing  argu- 
ment that  God  has  permitted  sin  to  exist  in  this 
world. 

Modern  scientific  research  renders  it  probable 
that  a  number  of  vegetables  and  animals  have 
since  the  earth  became  inhabited  gradually 
developed  into  higher  and  higher  states  by  force 
of  their  environment  and  individual  efforts  to 
overcome  obstacles;  that  God's  method  is,  the 
living  being,  if  it  would  continue  to  live  and 
grow  better  and  stronger,  and  transmit  valuable 
acquired  characteristics  to  its  progeny,  must 
work. 

Now  this  law  of  evolution  is  equally  applica- 
ble to  the  moral  nature  of  man.  To  rise  from 
the  mere  animal,  which  is,  with  few  exceptions, 
gross  selfishness,  to  a  high  plane  of  altruism, 
man  must  practice  self-denial.  He  cannot  deny 
himself  unless  he  suffers  thereby  privation,  and 
there  is  no  privation  if  every  necessity  of  his 
nature  be  gratified  without  effort.  That  is  to 
say,  if  there  be  no  temptation  to  sin,  there  can 
be  no  effort  to  improve  morally;  and  without 
effort  the  moral  nature  of  man  would  wither, 
like  his  muscles  would  shrink,  if  he  forebore  all 
attempt  at  work. 
58 


THE  MORAL  FUTURE  OF  MANKIND 

From  all  analogies  it  is  probable  man  will 
develop  morally  into  a  higher  and  higher  being. 
But  this  state  will  not  be  attained  without 
effort.  Sin  must  be  met  and  its  temptations 
conquered.  From  victorious  battles  alone  will 
evolve  this  nobler  man.  The  temptations  may 
even  become  stronger  than  we  now  know  them, 
but  the  power  of  resistance  by  inheritance  and 
by  higher  moral  development  will  keep  pace 
with  the  necessities  for  successful  warfare  to 
accomplish  moral  growth,  until  in  the  vast 
future  a  true  millenium  may  come  when  the  lion 
and  the  lamb,  figuratively,  but  man  and  man  in 
reality,  will  lie  down  together  in  perfect  peace. 

It  thus  appears  that  though  the  account  of 
the  fall  of  Adam  be  taken  in  its  literal  interpre- 
tation and  sin  came  through  his  disobedience — 
the  actual  disobedience  of  eating  the  apple — the 
all-merciful  God  in  His  love  for  His  creatures 
is  bringing  good  out  of  evil — is  preparing  man 
for  a  higher  and  nobler  life  in  consequence  of 
resistance  to  sin  and  which  He  has  given  him 
the  ability  successfully  to  combat. 
59 


NATURAL  LIFE  AND  IMMORTALITY 

If  it  be  true  man's  moral  being  is  endowed 
with  immortality,  there  is  no  reason  this  life 
should  not  be  a  school  for  its  development.  On 
the  contrary,  there  is  a  strong  argument  that  it 
is ;  namely,  the  importance  God  has  placed  upon 
obedience  to  His  moral  laws,  as  shown  by  the 
native  pleasure  experienced  by  men  when  they 
do  right  and  the  remorse  suffered  when  they  do 
wrong,  and  the  social  consequences  which  fol- 
low respectively  the  pursuit  of  virtue  or  vice. 

As  the  moral  nature  is  the  one  to  live  beyond 
the  grave,  why  at  death  should  it  forget  its  past 
experiences?  Why  should  God  ignore  the  in- 
stincts of  man  which  carry  his  soul  with  its 
knowledge  and  characteristics  into  the  future 
state  ? 

In  nature  nothing  is  done  uselessly.  Every 
act,  every  part  has  its  appropriate  function.  Is 
it  not  probable  from  this  universal  law  that  the 
moral  efforts  of  men  on  earth  should  follow  the 
moral  nature  of  men  in  their  future  existence  ? 

If  this  be  so,  there  is  the  greatest  utility  in 
striving  for  moral  excellence  in  this  life. 
60 


SIN  AND  PROVIDENCE 

There  is  no  doubt  the  moral  sense  of  man  is 
one  of  the  very  strongest  constituents  of  his 
nature.  As  stated  in  the  preceding  paragraph, 
to  do  right  affords  the  highest  pleasure,  to  com- 
mit sin  entails  grief. 

From  a  purely  rational  point  of  view  these 
phenomena,  which  are  universal,  demonstrate 
the  obnoxiousness  of  sin  to  the  Divine  Creator. 

Why  is  sin  so  condemned  by  God?  Why 
does  He  give  its  successful  resistance  so  impor- 
tant a  place  in  this  world  ? 

These  questions  are  rationally  answered, 
first,  on  the  hypothesis  that  God's  plan  is 
growth  of  every  being  by  individual  effort  of 
such  being.  Second,  that  the  development  of 
His  Creation  as  to  beings  (not  laws)  is  not  yet 
finished  for  this  world.  Third,  that  indulgence 
in  sin  retards  this  development  of  man ;  that  the 
resistance  of  evil  advances  his  perfection,  and 
as  perfection  is  the  goal  towards  which  all 
things  are  tending  under  the  fiat  of  the 
Almighty,  indulgence  in  sin,  therefore,  thwarts 
His  purpose  and  retards  the  consummation  of 
His  Holy  Providence,  ordained  from  before  the 
world  began. 
61 


SPECIAL  PROVIDENCE  OF  GOD 

The  term  "special  providence' '  is  here  used 
i:o  signify,  God  alters  the  ordinary  course  of 
events  in  consequence  of  prayer,  or  for  other 
adequate  reasons. 

From  a  purely  rational  consideration  of  the 
subject  the  most  convincing  argument  in  favor 
of  such  special  providence  is,  the  instinct  with 
all  races  of  men  to  pray  to  the  Supreme  Being 
of  their  conceptions,  when  in  dire  calamity,  or 
when  possessed  with  overwhelming  desires.  As 
stated  in  the  views  on  the  immortality  of  the 
soul,  we  start  with  the  fundamental  propositions 
that  God  is  Truth;  that  He  has  created,  or 
allowed  with  His  permission,  man  to  develop 
the  consciousness  that  He  will  answer  supplica- 
tion, and  therefore  such  consciousness  must 
represent  the  truth. 

It  is  inconceivable  the  Creator  should  have 
permitted  men  for  thousands  of  years  to  have 
offered  up  continuously  the  deepest  and  noblest 
yearnings  of  their  hearts  when  it  has  all  been  a 
farce. 


62 


SPECIAL  PROVIDENCE  AND 
EXPERIENCES 

Thousands  of  truthful  and  intelligent  men 
would  be  ready  any  day  to  certify  they  have 
experienced  in  their  lives  manifestations  of 
God's  special  providence. 

While  the  experiences  of  men  make  such  in- 
terpositions of  Providence  probable,  they  do 
not  preclude  the  conclusion  that  the  results 
might  have  happened  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
events.  For  example,  a  people  in  time  of 
drought  may  offer  up  prayers  for  rain,  and 
shortly  after  it  does  rain.  While  the  occurrence 
of  rain  following  promptly  on  prayer  and  at  a 
time  when  the  meteorological  conditions  are 
adverse  gives  probability  to  the  special  provi- 
dence, yet  none  can  prove  the  rain  might  not 
have  come  without  the  petitions. 

Thus  the  uncertainty  of  proof  gives  rise  to 
the  exercise  of  faith,  which  we  shall  see  in  the 
next  paragraph  performs  so  important  a  part 
in  God's  providence. 

Of  course  if  all  prayers  were  followed  by  ful- 
fillment of  their  supplications,  the  calculation  of 
probabilities  would  heap  up  such  a  fortified  con- 
clusion it  would  amount  to  absolute  certainty, 
63 


64  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

but  prayers  are  not  always  answered  fully; 
indeed,  it  may  be  affirmed,  many  of  them  are 
not  answered  at  all,  and  therefore  the  occa- 
sional coincidence  of  prayer  and  events  is  not  a 
certain  demonstration  of  their  efficiency  in 
securing  the  interposition  of  God. 

Yet  religious  men  do  believe  their  entreaties 
are  so  often  heard  and  granted,  they,  and  the 
writer  is  among  them,  not  only  do  not  falter 
but  are  highly  encouraged  to  beseech  the  throne 
of  Grace  on  every  important  matter  in  life. 


FAITH 

Why  faith  in  God  and  in  His  mercy  should 
be  the  means  by  which  men  are  restored  to 
health  and  have  other  blessings  attend  their 
supplications  is  not  difficult  to  understand  when 
it  is  fully  appreciated,  God  is  generation  after 
generation  bringing  man  by  his  own  efforts  to 
a  higher  and  higher  moral  status,  and  that  such 
development  is  a  part  of  the  Deity's  govern- 
ment of  this  earth,  the  ultimate  end  of  which  is 
"His  kingdom  shall  come  on  earth  as  it  is  in 
Heaven." 

The  act  of  faith,  of  intense  faith,  marks  a 
great  advance  in  the  moral  nature  of  any  man. 
Some  men  have  not  yet  reached  the  capacity  of 
being  able  to  exercise  faith.  It  is  an  act  inde- 
pendent of  intellectuality  or  knowledge  of 
worldly  facts.  It  belongs  to  another  domain  of 
man's  being;  to  that  part  of  his  nature  which 
stretches  out  for  the  metaphysical,  for  things 
beyond  time  and  sense;  to  an  inner  conscious- 
ness of  the  Supreme  Being,  and  which  may  be 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God. 

By  making  His  special  providences  wait  only 
on  faith  God  has  taken  the  very  best  means  to 
65 


66  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

inculcate  this  sentiment,  and  as  faith  in  Him 
begets,  in  the  most  efficacious  manner,  a  higher 
nature  in  the  individual  practicing  it,  so  man 
is  brought,  by  his  own  efforts,  in  conformity  to 
God's  general  plan  of  creation,  to  a  nobler  and 
more  perfect  moral  creature. 


FAITH  AND  KNOWLEDGE 

Constant  complaints  by  the  skeptical  are 
made,  why  is  not  God  more  clearly  revealed 
to  man?  Why  if  there  be  a  heaven  and  a  hell 
has  not  some  definite  knowledge  been  given  of 
them  ?  Why  is  Christ's  mission  not  attested  to 
men  of  the  present  time?  These,  with  other 
questions  of  a  similar  character,  are  constantly 
asked. 

Assuming  as  a  premise  the  physical  body  is 
developed  only  by  exercise  of  its  parts;  that 
mental  ability  is  acquired  by  mental  study ;  that 
moral  excellence  grows  from  a  practice  of 
virtue,  abstinence  from  sin  and  yearnings  for 
higher  ideals;  in  other  words,  that  growth  is 
the  result  of  effort,  then  it  follows  logically,  if 
God  had  made  Himself  as  plain  as  the  sun,  and 
immortality  a  demonstrable  fact  ever  present  to 
the  mind,  and  Christ  a  reality  greater  than  He 
was  to  His  apostles,  this  very  knowledge,  this 
certainty  would  dwarf  the  moral  sense  by 
requiring  no  effort  to  search  for  the  truth,  and 
all  those  developments  of  the  soul,  now  the 
result  of  research,  of  strivings  to  know,  of  hope, 
would  be  absent,  and  the  creature  would  fail  to 
unfold  the  moral  sense  or  to  grow  into  the  per- 
fect life  for  which  he  is  destined. 
67 


68  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

The  exercise  of  faith  stimulates  the  imagina- 
tion, makes  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  of  the 
Deity  most  entrancing,  and  as  the  result  of  such 
efforts  raises  the  man  to  a  higher  moral  being. 

This,  I  believe,  is  the  reason  God  in  His 
infinite  wisdom  has  required  faith. 


THE  LOVE  OF  GOD 

An  instance  of  the  Love  of  God,  not  only  to 
man,  but  to  His  entire  animal  creation,  is  most 
clearly  demonstrated  by  the  love  for  life  shown 
by  every  living  creature. 

So  beautiful  is  this  world  in  which  God  has 
placed  His  animal  life,  so  enjoyable  are  its 
pleasures  of  companionship,  its  offerings  to  the 
appetites  and  senses,  so  pleasant  is  the  mere  act 
of  living,  that  the  fish  of  the  sea,  the  birds  of 
the  air,  the  animals  of  the  land,  all  flee  from 
danger  and  seek  to  save  their  lives. 

Such  bounty,  such  a  gift  of  pleasure  sprang 
only  from  love. 


69 


IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL 

On  this  highly  complex  earth,  where  every- 
thing is  organized  and  governed  to  produce 
certain  results,  where  definite  laws  act  at  every 
moment  upon  both  organic  and  inorganic  mat- 
ter, and  which  are  all,  doubtless,  the  subject  of 
exact  mathematical  statement  and  analysis,  the 
only  legitimate  and  logical  conclusion  to  be 
drawn  from  this  universal  reign  of  law  is,  this 
world  is  the  work  of  an  intelligent  Creator  and 
not  of  chance. 

A  conclusion  the  physicist  and  moralist  agree 
on  is,  every  law  has  a  definite  design ;  more  yet, 
every  law  has  some  useful  purpose  as  its  end 
or  reason  for  existence;  in  a  word,  its  intelli- 
gent Creator  has  made  no  law  at  haphazard  or 
for  naught. 

This  being  granted,  why  has  our  Creator 
placed  so  much  importance  upon  obedience  by 
man  to  His  moral  laws  ?  Why  are  we  required 
to  have  no  other  gods  but  Him  ?  Why  are  we 
to  love  Him  with  all  our  hearts  and  souls  and 
minds?  What  good  can  such  an  insignificant 
creature  as  myself — a  mere  atom  in  His  uni- 
verse— do  my  great  Creator  by  loving  Him? 
Surely  no  man  living  will  be  vain  enough  to 
think  his  love  is  of  itself  of  value  to  God? 
70 


IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL  7 1 

These  commandments  are  not  to  benefit  the 
Creator,  but  to  do  good  to  man  himself — to 
make  him  better,  wiser,  and  nobler ;  to  increase 
his  own  spirituality;  to  cause  him  to  overcome 
sin,  for  sin  to  the  moral  nature  of  man  is  the 
analogue  of  labor  to  his  physical  being,  and 
each  must  be  contented  with  in  order  for 
growth  to  take  place. 

If,  therefore,  it  be  true  none  of  God's  laws 
are  in  vain,  that  man  has  an  instinctive  law 
impressed  on  his  heart  requiring  him  to  love 
his  Maker  with  his  best  efforts,  the  question 
suggests  itself,  is  not  the  injunction  to  love  God 
a  somewhat  useless  and  unnecessary  require- 
ment if  death  is  to  be  the  end  of  man's  moral 
nature?  While  on  the  other  hand,  is  not  the 
proposition,  God  does  not  require  obedience  to 
His  moral  laws  for  an  insufficient  purpose  much 
better  gratified  by  assuming  all  this  labor 
demanded  of  man  to  resist  sin,  to  bring  himself 
by  effort  to  obedience  to  moral  laws,  to  subdue 
and  conquer  his  natural  propensities,  are  for  the 
purpose  of  developing  within  himself  a  higher 
nature — not  a  nature  made  worthier  and  nobler 
by  so  much  self-denial,  and  then  to  die  with 
the  body — but  a  spirit,  to  live  and  grow  holier 
and  more  righteous  in  its  immortality. 


72  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

It  is  the  almost  universal  belief  of  astrono- 
mers that  the  stellar  universe  was  primordially 
gaseous,  next  nebulous  of  unformed  constella- 
tions, then  suns  of  immense  dimensions,  which 
have  finally  thrown  off  attendant  planets.  For 
this  earth  to  have  advanced  from  matter  in  a 
gaseous  state,  "without  form  and  void,"  to  its 
present  heterogeneity  and  unity,  to  its  beauty 
and  adaptability  to  support  life,  it  shows  the 
Creator's  scheme  has  been  one  of  grand  devel- 
opment to  higher  and  higher  standards. 

If  the  attention  be  confined  to  this  earth  where 
more  exact  data  is  obtainable,  the  geologists  can 
trace  in  the  formation  of  its  crust,  from  the 
archaic  rocks  to  the  present  uppermost  stratum, 
a  more  and  more  complex  character,  suitable  as 
it  advanced,  by  the  substances  it  contained,  for 
the  support  of  a  higher  life  than  each  of  the 
lower  formations.  The  paleontologists  are  of 
opinion  from  an  examination  of  the  fossils  con- 
tained in  the  rocks  that  life,  both  vegetable  and 
animal,  has  become  more  and  more  developed 
as  successive  strata  were  deposited.  The  nat- 
uralists of  the  present  day  are  almost  univer- 
sally persuaded  that  vegetables  and  animals 
have  by  natural  selection,  the  survival  of  the 
fittest  to  live,  and  the  transmission  of  desirable 
characteristics  to  progeny,  grown  from  inferior 
species  to  the  intelligent  specimens  of  life  inhab- 
iting at  this  time  the  earth.  In  all  these  things 
it  has  been  growth  towards  betterment. 


IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL  73 

I  think  this  same  law  of  growth  has  applied 
to  the  mental  and  moral  attributes  of  men.  The 
present  civilization  of  the  human  race — which 
far  surpasses  all  previous  states,  shown  in 
man's  exact  formulation  of  natural  laws  and 
his  dominion  over  nature  in  consequence  of 
such  knowledge — is  an  unanswerable  proof  he 
has  grown  mentally  to  an  immense  degree. 

The  history  of  the  world  is  full  of  evidences 
of  morality  being  higher  in  this  century  than 
ever  before.  Wars  have  grown  less  frequent 
than  anterior  to  the  birth  of  Christ ;  the  rights 
and  position  of  woman  more  respected;  mur- 
der, theft  and  all  crimes  not  only  punished  by 
appropriate  means  and  more  certainly,  but  the 
criminal  is  viewed  in  a  truer  light,  until, 
although  the  world  is  yet  too  full  of  sin,  the 
morality  of  mankind  in  Christian  countries  has 
never,  as  a  general  rule,  stood  on  so  high  a 
plane. 

So  a  retrospect  of  all  things  will  show,  in  a 
broad  sense,  there  has  been  development  to 
higher  states.  This  advance  upward  seems  to 
be  God's  own  law,  and  no  exception  occurs  to 
me  when  long  periods  are  considered. 

Another  general  principle  of  universal  appli- 
cation is,  the  creation  everywhere  exhibits  evi- 
dences of  design.  As  far  as  known,  all  things 
have  their  uses.  Limit  our  observation  to  man 
and  we  find  no  parts  but  what  have  functions  to 
perform.    Remove  the  brain,  or  heart,  or  lungs, 


74  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

etc.,  and  the  individual  promptly  dies.  This 
observation  might  be  extended  to  all  vegetable 
and  animal  life,  and  a  fair  logical  deduction 
from  the  foregoing  observations  is,  there  is  no 
part  of  the  Creator's  work  but  what  was  fash- 
ioned for  adequate  purposes.  This  agrees  en- 
tirely with  the  idea  of  an  all-wise  and  powerful 
Creator,  who  would  not  expend  effort  without 
very  definite  and  adequate  results  to  follow. 

From  these  two  propositions,  viz,  that  the 
moral  nature  of  man  is  intended  for  growth 
into  higher  excellencies,  and  this  growth  is 
designed  for  adequate  effects  to  follow,  the 
question  arises,  do  the  moral  excellencies 
attained  by  man  in  this  short  life  reasonably 
and  adequately  fulfill  the  purposes  of  an  all- 
wise  and  powerful  Creator,  who  could  by  His 
fiat  establish  a  future  life  for  man  as  easily  as 
He  has  made  his  existence  for  this  world? 
Would  not  you,  would  not  I,  possessed  of  such 
power  as  Almighty  God  possesses  and  having 
made  man  in  this  life  the  subject  of  moral  laws, 
with  strong  instincts  towards  betterment, 
would  we  not  have  continued  his  moral  exist- 
ence in  a  future  world  and  not  have  limited  his 
existence  with  death  of  the  body. 

The  extent  of  the  probability  of  such  action 
by  a  wise  and  sufficiently  powerful  man  is  a 
logical  measure  of  one  of  the  probabilities  of 
the  immortality  of  man's  moral  nature. 


IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL  75 

The  only  argument  against  the  belief  that  the 
soul  of  man  is  immortal  is,  when  man  dies  there 
is  a  visible  cessation  of  all  mental  and  moral 
attributes  and  faculties. 

This  is  an  argument  of  decided  weight  and 
not  to  be  overlooked  by  any  one  sincerely 
anxious  to  arrive  at  truth.  After  the  best  con- 
sideration I  can  give  the  subject  I  am  of  opinion 
this  argument  is  not  conclusive  against  immor- 
tality, and  for  the  following  reasons : 

The  functions  of  the  body  when  death  super- 
venes certainly  cease.  Death  puts  an  end  to 
the  acquisition  of  knowledge  by  sight,  by  taste, 
by  smell,  by  touch,  and  by  hearing.  Such  ideas 
and  such  mentality  are  certainly  destroyed. 
But  there  are  other  classes  of  thought  not 
dependent  on  the  functions  of  the  senses  except 
for  their  initial  knowledge,  such  as  memory, 
generalization,  and  deduction  from  previous 
experiences.  These  stand  on  the  higher  plane 
where  mental  functions  act  on  mental  facts,  and 
are  in  their  nature  metaphysical.  I  recall  inci- 
dents of  my  earliest  childhood.  They  have 
been  lost  to  my  consciousness  for  many  years. 
Where  has  the  knowledge  of  such  facts  been 
kept  ?  Has  it  been  stored  up  in  physical  matter 
by  deposit  of  nerve  granules  or  otherwise? 
Such  an  explanation  is  a  mere  assumption  by 
the  wisest  physiologist.  He  can  neither  prove 
nor  disprove  such  an  assertion.  Memory  and 
the    syllogistic    process    are   beyond    physics. 


j6  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

The  physiologist  may,  however,  reply,  I  agree 
I  cannot  prove  such  mentalities  are  processes  of 
matter,  but  you  cannot  prove  they  are  processes 
of  the  spirit.  This  may  well  be  admitted,  as 
the  present  argument  only  requires  the  admis- 
sion of  the  probability  that  they  may  not  be 
physical  processes  pure  and  simple. 

The  same  reasoning  applies  in  a  rather 
stronger  manner  to  the  moral  attributes  of  man, 
and  by  which  is  meant,  the  instinctive  recogni- 
tion of  a  Godhead  and  man's  duty  to  Him,  and 
the  moral  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  with  the 
consciousness  of  obligation  to  do  right  and 
avoid  wrong. 

This  consciousnesj  of  moral  obligation,  it  is 
true,  is  in  a  thousand  ways  woven  in  with 
ordinary  knowledge  and  thought,  and  is  often 
higher  in  proportion  to  the  intellectuality  of 
individuals — indeed  to  such  an  extent,  some 
affirm  that  conscience  is  a  child  of  intelligence. 
This  proposition  I  believe  in  a  large  degree  to 
be  false,  for  men  often  more  ignorant  than 
others  have  far  higher  experiences  in  the 
knowledge  and  love  of  God  and  lead  more 
moral  lives  than  the  most  learned.  So  it  can- 
not be  affirmed  that  intellectuality  and  morality 
.are  absolutely  identical  either  in  their  origin  or 
development. 

The  objector  may,  however,  answer,  and 
with  apparent  reason,  the  beasts  of  the  field 
^exhibit   ratiocination,   memory,   affection,    re- 


IMMORALITY  OF  THE  SOUL  77 

yenge,  selfishness,  and  such  other  traits,  and  it 
is  not  claimed  their  natures  are  immortal. 

No  claim  is  made  for  their  immortality,  be- 
cause there  is  no  evidence  the  great  Creator  has 
given  them  that  instinctive  belief  and  hope.  If 
He  had,  I  would  promptly  believe  they  would 
enjoy  immortality,  for  I  cannot  think  God 
would  deceive  any  of  His  creatures,  the  low- 
liest— the  worm. 

It  is  true,  beasts  do  exhibit,  and  in  some 
instances  to  an  astonishing  degree,  the  reason- 
ing faculties,  and  when  they  die  these  die  with 
them,  not  because  of  death  of  body,  but  because 
God  has  decided  they  are  not  sufficiently  devel- 
oped to  enjoy  and  perform  the  duties  of  a 
future  life. 

The  argument,  therefore,  reduces  itself  in  my 
mind  to  this,  death  is  not  necessarily  the  end  of 
man's  moral  consciousness.  If  this  conclusion 
be  accepted  as  probable,  a  great  step  has  been 
taken  in  arriving  at  the  ultimate  probability  of 
immortality,  and  this  probability  should  induce 
men  to  act  on  it,  for  its  acceptance  cannot  possi- 
bly work  injury,  but  certainly,  even  in  this  life,, 
produces  a  nobler  and  happier  man. 


78  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

The  skeptic  on  the  subject  of  immortality 
may  advance  this  further  consideration,  the 
assumption  that  the  mind  and  moral  faculties  of 
man  survive  the  death  of  his  body  is  entirely 
without  analogy  to  any  known  facts. 

My  own  mind  answers  this  objection  in  this 
manner.  It  is  not  true  we  have  no  instance  of 
intelligence  and  moral  nature  independent  of 
the  body.  On  the  contrary,  we  have  the  very 
highest  evidence  of  a  Being  who  possesses 
intellectuality  and  morality,  and  who  has 
neither  flesh,  nor  blood,  nor  vibrating  nerve — 
and  He  is  God  Himself.  As  shown  in  the  first 
paragraph  of  this  book,  God  to  have  established 
the  complex  laws  of  electricity,  of  forces,  of 
gravitation,  of  chemistry  must  Himself  have 
possessed  the  intelligence  to  have  understood 
what  he  was  ordaining,  and  such  intelligence  as 
man  at  this  day  is  endowed  with  in  a  compara- 
tively feeble  degree.  But  no  one  will  hardly 
pretend  that  God,  who  has  made  all  these  illim- 
itable worlds,  whose  dominion  extends  to  infin- 
ity of  space,  has  the  flesh  and  blood  and  nerve 
of  men. 

The  answer  to  the  skeptic,  therefore,  stands 
good  that  a  physical  body,  like  man's,  is  not 
necessary  in  order  to  be  the  abode  of  mind  and 
the  moral  sense. 


EXCELSIOR 

The  best  judgment  I  can  form,  on  a  sur- 
vey of  the  facts  of  nature,  convinces  me  that 
the  fundamental  law  underlying  all  things  is 
development  from  lower  to  higher  and  more 
complex  states.  This  complexity  is,  however, 
not  associated  with  confusion  or  antagonism, 
but  with  an  order  and  correlation  of  parts  com- 
mensurate with  their  development,  and  form- 
ing, as  a  resultant,  an  harmonious  whole. 

As  stated  in  a  preceding  paragraph  all  as- 
tronomers are  agreed  that  many  of  the  concrete 
suns  and  planets  at  present  in  the  firmament  are 
the  product  of  less  organized  gaseous  and  nebu- 
lous masses  of  matter.  In  the  years  of  infinite 
time  and  in  the  regions  of  infinite  space  there 
has  been  going  on  a  development  by  condensa- 
tion under  the  influences  of  gravitation,  and  of 
cooling  by  the  equalizing  properties  of  heat,  of 
formation  of  more  complex  substances  by  oxi- 
dation and  the  action  of  acids,  until  we  have  in 
our  own  case  an  earth  adapted  for  the  support 
of  vegetable  and  animal  life. 

There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  this  globe  in 
its  formation  is  any  exception  to  other  spheres, 
or  our  sun  with  its  planetary  system  is  different 
79 


80  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

from  other  suns  and  systems.  On  the  con- 
trary, there  are  many  circumstances  to  show, 
they  are  all  governed  by  the  same  law  of  gravi- 
tation, and  the  spectroscope  discloses  indisputa- 
ble proof  that  many  substances  composing  the 
most  distant  suns  are  found  on  our  planet. 

Nor  is  there  any  good  reason  to  conclude  the 
processes  so  active  in  bringing  about  the  pres- 
ent status  of  stellar  existence  have  ceased  to 
work  as  efficiently  as  ever.  No  diminution  in 
the  motion  of  the  stars  is  observable,  the  diffu- 
sive properties  of  heat  are  as  energetic  in  cool- 
ing the  globes  as  when  first  established,  the  con- 
densation in  consequence  of  gravitation  and 
loss  of  heat  is  still  energetic  in  solidifying  suns 
and  planets,  for  the  bolometer  actually  shows 
a  loss  of  heat  in  distant  suns  and  measures  the 
quantity  given  off.  The  result  is,  therefore, 
the  development  of  the  creation  is  still  going 
on,  and  if  appearances  from  so  distant  a  stand- 
point as  the  earth  can  be  relied  upon,  a  number 
of  fixed  stars  nearest  us  are  apparently  only  in 
the  infancy  of  their  evolution  as  compared 
to  our  earth. 

The  explorations  of  the  earth's  crust,  and 
they  have  been  comparatively  very  few  and 
limited,  show  both  in  the  character  of  the  suc- 
cessive layers  and  the  fossils  they  contain  that 
much  antecedent  life  has  been  of  an  inferior 
order  to  the  present  species  inhabiting  this 
globe.     The  labors  of  earnest  and  honest  biolo- 


EXCELSIOR  8 1 

gists  demonstrate  changes  are  now  going  on  in 
life  as  incessantly  and  as  actively  as  at  any  time 
in  the  past;  that  some  species  have  become 
extinct  and  new  ones  produced  more  and  more 
adapted  to  their  environment,  with  a  general 
resultant  of  higher  vegetable  and  animal  organ- 
ism and  intelligence. 

Nor  is  it  to  be  doubted  the  masses  of  man- 
kind, since  historic  times,  have  shown  an  ad- 
vancing mentality.  In  the  domains  of  science, 
wherein  the  laws  of  nature  have  been  discov- 
ered and  the  forces  of  nature  yoked  as  servants 
of  man,  there  is  no  comparison  between  the 
capacity  of  the  ante-christian  and  the  scientist 
of  the  twentieth  century.  So  that  I  feel  con- 
vinced there  has  been  some  improvement  in  the 
mentality  of  the  human  race  within  even  his- 
toric times.  What  has  been  the  enormous  ad- 
vance over  men  before  they  had  learned  enough 
to  record  their  acts  and  thoughts  we  can  only 
conjecture. 

In  regard  to  the  moral  status  of  mankind,  we 
are  only  positively  safe  in  comparisons  within 
historic  periods.  When  one  recalls  the  wars  of 
the  earliest  Asiatic  nations,  the  slaughter  of  the 
people  of  Babylon  and  Nineveh,  the  wars  of 
the  kings  who  surrounded  the  Jews,  the  con- 
quests of  Alexander,  the  carnage  by  the 
Romans,  by  the  Huns,  the  disregard  of  life  and 
property  in  the  Middle  Ages,  the  cruelty  of 
man  to  man  everywhere,  and  compares  it  with 


82  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

the  short  wars  of  the  present  era,  with  the  few 
lives  lost  in  battle  in  proportion  to  the  tens  of 
thousands  slain  formerly  in  a  single  conflict,  to 
accomplish  which  a  perfect  gluttony  for 
slaughter  must  have  possessed  the  combatants, 
when  surrender  now  does  not  mean  death,  but 
protection;  when  the  civilized  lands  are  filled 
with  hospitals  for  the  sick,  with  houses  to  shel- 
ter the  poor  and  friendless ;  when,  in  a  general 
sense,  every  man  is  the  friend  of  every  other 
man,  and  all  join  to  protect  the  helpless  from 
the  strong;  when  slavery  is  abolished  and 
nearly  all  are  secured  the  blessings  of  life,  lib- 
erty, and  the  pursuit  of  happiness;  when  it  is 
an  honor,  a  recommendation,  to  serve  God,  and 
to  be  a  pure  man,  I  think  it  may  be  safely  con- 
cluded the  morality  of  mankind  is  higher  today 
than  at  any  other  period  of  which  history  re- 
cords. 

The  generalization  to  be  drawn  from  this 
brief  retrospect  is,  God's  purposes  as  incorpora- 
ted in  His  original  creation  are  still  unfolding 
themselves ;  not  that  the  creation  was  not  com- 
pleted substantially  in  the  manner  narrated  in 
the  Books  of  Genesis,  for  astronomy,  geology, 
and  biology  offer  their  testimony  that  the  order 
of  creation  therein  set  forth  must  have  been  fol- 
lowed. Creation  consisted  not  only  of  objects 
created,  but  of  laws  to  govern  them,  and  it  is 
these  laws  which  will  allow  the  myriad  uni- 
verses and  all  therein  contained  to  evolve  in 


EXCELSIOR  83 

wondrous  ways  new  creatures  in  the  vast 
periods  of  infinite  time  for  the  purpose  of  bring- 
ing about  inconceivably  grand  results  as  yet 
buried  in  His  own  foreknowledge. 

Another  thought;  if  the  foregoing  deduc- 
tions be  true,  then  each  man  may  by  pursuing 
the  good  be  a  conscious  servant  of  the  All-High 
God  in  bringing  about,  more  speedily  than 
otherwise,  the  ultimate  end  of  creation,  namely, 
"the  coming  of  God's  Kingdom." 

When  such  a  thought  possesses  a  man's  soul 
with  its  full  significance,  there  is  nothing  more 
ennobling  than  the  conviction,  he  may  be  the 
agent  of  God  actually  working  in  His  domains, 
and  what  he  does  may  leave  its  impress  for  all 
time. 


HEAVEN 

An  unprejudiced  and  competent  study  of  all 
known  natural  phenomena  of  the  universe,  it  is 
believed,  will  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  no  part 
of  nature  is  quiescent;  that  changes  more  or 
less  active  are  going  on  in  every  domain,  form- 
ing new  worlds  in  the  stellar  depths,  new  inor- 
ganic substances  on  our  own  earth,  new  organic 
beings  in  the  seas  and  on  the  land,  and  that 
nothing  is  absolutely  fixed  and  finally  formed 
except  the  qualities  of  matter  and  the  laws  of 
nature,  and  as  to  these  there  is  no  reason  to  be- 
lieve they  have  varied  from  the  time  the  origi- 
nal fiat  brought  them  into  existence,  or  that 
they  will  vary  in  the  infinity  of  the  future. 

Another  conclusion  equally  probable  will  be, 
although  there  may  have  been  a  retrogression 
in  some  instances,  yet  in  the  vast  majority  of 
changes  there  has  been  a  development  from 
simpler  forms  to  the  complex,  from  lower  to 
the  higher  order.  This  seems  to  be  the  Crea- 
tor's method,  and  no  where  is  to  be  found  abso- 
lute permanency. 

The  popular  idea  of  Heaven  is  a  state  of 
complete  perfection  of  souls  who  have  con- 
formed in  this  life  to  the  commandments  of 
84 


HEAVEN  85 

God,  and  who  in  His  infinite  love  and  mercy 
has  pardoned  their  offences  and  received  them 
into  His  bosom — a  place  of  angelic  beatitudes 
where  sin  is  unknown,  temptations  forbidden, 
and  absolute  enjoyment  provided  without 
change  or  effort. 

This  state  of  affairs  is  at  variance  with  what 
is  apparently  God's  method  with  His  visible 
creations,  and  if  the  case  is  to  be  judged  by  the 
argument  of  analogy,  namely,  if  a  workman 
invariably  performs  many  tasks  in  a  certain 
manner  it  is  sound  reasoning  to  believe  he  will 
perform  other  tasks  on  similar  lines,  then  I 
should  think  Heaven  was  a  state  of  activity,  of 
duties  to  be  performed  suitable  for  disembodied 
spirits,  possibly  of  trials,  of  temptations  to  be 
overcome  in  order  that  the  soul  in  conquering 
them  may  grow  nobler  and  more  worthy  to 
approach  nearer  and  nearer  to  God's  presence 
and  to  understand  more  clearly  His  infinitudes 
and  thus  to  enjoy  ever  increasing  happiness. 


SATAN 

A  legitimate  deduction  from  the  foregoing 
observation  is,  if  there  be  a  task,  there  must  be 
capacity  for  performance ;  if  a  duty,  there  must 
be  free  will,  and  probably  reward  for  endeavor 
and  punishment  for  failure  of  adequate  effort ; 
and  finally,  that  angels  or  rather  souls  are  as 
much,  it  may  be  more,  on  their  responsibility  to 
conform  to  God's  laws  which  permeate  and 
govern  the  unseen  than  mankind  is  on  this 
earth. 

If  this  be  so,  if  duty  and  free  will  exist  in 
Heaven,  then  some  as  in  this  life  will  devote 
every  energy  to  the  performance  of  their  obli- 
gations, some  may  exhibit  only  a  mediocre 
effort,  while  others  may  be  guilty  of  actual  dis- 
obedience and  rebellion. 

On  this  purely  rational  method  of  reasoning 
from  facts  known  to  the  intelligence  of  man- 
kind, the  Scriptural  account  of  the  existence, 
disobedience,  and  fall  of  Satan  as  an  angel  is 
rendered  highly  probable.  From  the  multi- 
tudes of  worlds  known  to  exist  in  space,  and 
the  probability  that  some  are  very  similar  to 
our  earth,  it  is  possible  Satan  may  have  been  an 
inhabitant  of  one  of  them. 
86 


THE  HEAVENLY  STATE 

A  constant  argument  used  in  these  discus- 
sions to  establish  the  Christian  religion  is  the 
presumption  that  a  given  law  will  be  applicable 
in  analogous  cases.  When  we  know  the  law  of 
gravitation  is  as  potent  on  the  moon,  the 
planets,  and  the  sun  as  it  is  on  this  earth,  and 
as  universal  among  the  comets,  the  meteors, 
and  the  binary  stars  as  in  our  own  system; 
when  the  spectroscope  discloses  the  most  dis- 
tant suns  and  nebulae  are  made  of  a  number  of 
the  same  substances  known  to  compose  this 
globe,  a  strong  degree  of  probability  is  given 
to  the  argument  that  the  Creator  has  not  made 
different  laws  for  the  same  class  of  facts  or 
objects,  but  rather  a  simplicity  and  unity  of 
governance  runs  through  all  creation  and  states 
where  they  may  be  applicable. 

For  this  reason,  it  seems  to  me,  the  soul 
which  has  attained  a  higher  state  of  morality  in 
this  life  by  the  exercise  of  self-denial  and  con- 
trol will,  like  the  body  and  mind  which  have 
respectively  developed  by  labor  and  thought,  be 
fitted  for  and  will  take  on  a  higher  spiritual 
life  in  the  existence  of  beatified  souls. 

Further^  inasmuch  as  progression  is  as  a  rule 
the  law  of  this  life  in  matters  of  conscience  and 
87 


88  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

morality,  so  it  is  a  probable  inference  that  there 
will  be  temptations  to  be  overcome,  spiritual 
tasks  to  be  performed  in  the  future  existence, 
the  successful  battling  with  which  will  evolve 
nobler  souls,  greater  happiness,  and  closer 
approach  to  Almighty  God,  and  the  clearer, 
deeper  understanding  of  His  greatness. 

So,  as  a  corollary,  there  may  be  in  that  future 
life,  no  less  than  in  this,  the  slothful,  and  even 
disobedient,  and  who  will,  surely  as  God  is  a 
just  and  righteous  Judge,  suffer  the  penalties 
of  their  misconduct. 

The  views  expressed  in  this  paragraph  quite 
agree  with  the  expressions  of  the  Saviour,  "in 
my  Father's  house  there  are  many  mansions/ ' 


HELL 

I  have  been  unable  to  find  any  analogy  in 
nature  for  the  existence  of  a  physical  Hell, 
where  the  corporeal  body  will  be  forever  burnt 
by  flame  and  without  incineration;  or  for  a 
Heaven  inhabited  with  angels  in  glorified  cor- 
poreal bodies. 

A  knowledge  of  nature  teaches  in  the  most 
unequivocal  manner  that  the  body  of  man  is 
composed  largely  of  oxygen,  nitrogen,  hydro- 
gen, lime,  carbon,  potash,  etc.,  and  that  these 
substances  on  cessation  of  vital  functions  form 
new  combinations,  until  finally  nothing  is  left 
of  the  once  physical  body.  Of  course  God 
could  at  the  last  day  create  a  great  miracle  and 
actually  re-form  into  its  own  flesh  every  body 
that  has  ever  lived.  But  I  see  no  analogy  in 
nature  for  this  action.  The  argument  from  what 
we  know  of  natural  phenomena  is  against  it. 
The  same  atom  of  oxygen,  etc.,  has  in  many  in- 
stances been  incorporated  into  other  things.  If 
material  bodies  were  to  exist  in  the  future  state 
composed  of  the  elements  of  nature  as  now, 
heat  would  be  required  to  keep  them  alive,  and 
heat  requires  food  to  supply  its  loss  by  radia- 
89 


90  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

tion,  or  this  probably  greatest  and  most  import- 
ant of  all  natural  states — heat — would  have  to 
be  altered. 

Inasmuch  as  the  moral  nature,  the  soul  of 
man,  is  something  without  body  or  parts;  is  a 
capacity  to  know  right  from  wrong;  is  a  con- 
sciousness which  experiences  pleasure  in  obey- 
ing an  instinct  to  do  right,  and  remorse  by 
instinct,  when  wrong  is  done  the  scientific  con- 
clusion would  be,  if  this  consciousness  exists 
after  death,  any  punishment  it  may  receive  will 
be  similar  to  what  it  experiences  in  this  life, 
namely,  an  intense  and  overwhelming  regret 
for  joys  lost. 

This  argument  is  not  deemed  antagonistic  to 
the  allusions  in  the  Bible  of  physical  hell-fires, 
because  such  references  were  most  probably 
written  in  the  exaggerated  figurative  style  of 
the  Psalms  of  David,  and  of  the  early  oriental 
Christian  era. 


RECOGNITION  IN  FUTURE  LIFE 

It  seems  to  follow  logically  from  the  fore- 
going arguments,  "if  flesh  and  blood"  cannot 
enter  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  and  the  body  is 
raised  "a  spiritual  body/'  the  relations  of  this 
life,  so  largely  built  upon  flesh  and  blood,  in 
order  that  the  earth  may  be  inhabited  by  beast 
and  man,  will  probably  form  no  part  of  immor- 
tality. 

No  argument  from  nature  presents  itself  to 
my  mind  for  the  immortality  of  the  natural 
body,  but  only  for  the  spiritual  body — the 
soul — that  instinctive  consciousness  within  us 
which  teaches  there  is  a  God  whose  laws  so  far 
as  we  perceive  them  should  be  obeyed.  Soul 
may  recognize  soul — that  is  as  far  as  analogy 
from  rational  premises,  with  any  probability, 
leads. 


91 


CHRIST 

The  divinity  of  Christ  has  been  and  is  a 
•stumbling  block  to  many  persons  as  anxious  to 
know  the  truth  as  the  most  sincere  believers  in 
the  Trinity. 

I  recognize  well  that  no  man  living  has  seen 
Christ,  or  His  miracles,  and  belief  in  Him  to 
the  extent  of  the  Christian  creed  must  be 
largely  a  matter  of  faith. 

For  myself,  I  have  been  led  by  a  purely 
rational  system  of  argumentation  to  accept  in 
the  fullest  sense  the  Divinity  of  Christ.  To 
show  the  train  of  reasoning  which  has  brought 
me  to  this  conclusion,  I  must  repeat,  in  the  first 
place,  the  rational  argument  for  faith  and  its 
necessity. 

We  start  again  with  the  fundamental  propo- 
sition that  God's  Providence  is  one  of  progres- 
sion from  the  lower  to  the  higher  state  as 
exhibited  in  all  the  organic  domains  of  nature 
and  this  progression  is  the  result  of  individual 
efforts,  either  involuntary  or  conscious,  exerted 
in  overcoming  obstacles.  Without  obstacles  to 
be  overcome  there  can  be  no  effort.  This  prop- 
osition applies  to  the  moral  nature  of  man  as 
well  as  to  his  physical  and  mental  qualities. 
92 


CHRIST  93 

As  I  think  the  subject  out,  there  could  be  no 
moral  growth  in  believing  in  God  and  worship- 
ping Him  if  He  had  made  His  presence  as  vis- 
ible at  all  times  as  the  sun  to  men;  there  could 
be  no  increased  development  in  man's  morality 
if  there  were  no  temptations  and  no  sin  to  com- 
bat. By  analogy  to  a  strictly  physical  law,  in  or- 
der to  exert  force  there  must  be  a  resistance  to 
be  contended  against,  so  to  exert  moral  strength 
there  must  be  something  to  offer  resistance — 
such  as  an  absence  of  absolutely  definite  knowl- 
edge of  the  Being  our  consciousness  instinct- 
ively points  to  as  an  object  to  be  worshipped, 
or  a  natural  selfishness  opposed  by  conscience, 
and  which  we  know  it  is  demanded  of  us  to 
subdue  or  regulate  within  the  bounds  of  charity 
to  our  fellow  men. 

Such  a  growth  in  morality  shows  its  desira- 
bility by  increased  happiness  in  this  life,  and  the 
probability,  as  shown  in  a  prior  paragraph,  for 
its  being  a  preparation  for  intenser  bliss  during 
a  future  existence. 

I  know  of  nothing  so  capable  of  offering  a 
resistance  to  the  conscience,  of  presenting  diffi- 
culties to  be  overcome,  like  labor  is  to  the  mus- 
cles, as  a  state  of  affairs  not  apparent  to  the 
senses  and  which  cannot  be  demonstrated  as  a 
mathematical  proposition.  To  believe  in  such 
a  state  of  affairs,  wanting  such  certainty  is 
faith. 


94  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

The  conclusion,  therefore,  of  this  purely 
rational  argument  becomes  apparent  that  moral 
growth  would  not  be  acquired  by  man  from  the 
coming  of  Christ  if  God  were  constantly  giving 
to  mankind  such  physical  or  other  evidences  of 
Christ's  Messiahship  as  to  leave  no  opportunity 
for  the  exercise  of  faith.  In  other  words, 
according  to  this  argument,  for  God  to  have 
accomplished  in  the  best  manner  the  objects  of 
Christ's  mission,  viz.,  the  growth  of  man's 
moral  nature,  He  must  have  made  the  evi- 
dences of  such  mission  just  so  far  veiled  as  to 
call  for  the  practice  of  faith — for  in  his  efforts 
to  believe,  to  peer  into  the  mysteries  of  the  God- 
head, into  the  divinity  of  Christ,  to  solve  these 
ennobling,  unsolvable  propositions,  and  at  the 
same  time,  while  debating  the  subject,  to  con- 
template as  he  must  the  perfection  of  Christ's 
life,  man  grows  in  such  grace  as  will  fit  him  for 
entrance  into  that  blissful  state  of  immortality 
we  fain  call  Heaven. 

No  argument  can,  therefore,  be  drawn  from 
our  imperfect  knowledge  of  His  Divinity,  but 
such  imperfect  knowledge  is  a  strong  corrobor- 
ating probability  in  favor  of  the  truth  of  such 
divinity. 

In  other  words,  a  wise  and  adequately  pow- 
erful man  who  was  seeking  the  moral  better- 
ment of  mankind  would  have  caused  the  knowl- 


CHRIST  95 

edge  of  Christ  to  have  been  enfolded  with  just 
the  obscurities  we  find  it. 


When  one  looks  on  the  face  of  nature  and 
contemplates  the  overwhelming  evidences  of 
design  in  everything  that  exists,  even  in  micro- 
scopic germ  life;  where  all  these  evidences  are 
the  result  of  either  individual  creation  or  the 
outcome  of  an  evolution  established  by  law  and 
impressed  upon  creatures  by  an  intelligent  Cre- 
ator (the  conclusion  from  the  one  or  the  other 
is  the  same)  ;  where  nothing  has  been  allowed 
to  imperil  this  creation ;  where  higher  excellen- 
cies in  vegetable  and  animals  are  being  attained 
century  after  century;  where  intellectual  and 
moral  growth  has  been  and  is  taking  place, 
tending  to  one  definite  end — the  altruism  of 
man — and  not  to  contrary  and  warring  results, 
as  would  be  the  case  if  it  were  the  work  of 
chance,  when  one  sees  all  this  marshalling  of 
forces,  like  a  well-ordered  army  under  one  com- 
petent general,  for  a  definite  result,  and  that  re- 
sult is  beneficient,  the  probability  is  very  strong 
that  at  all  events,  as  to  great  masses,  as  to  vast 
results,  no  matter  how  much  the  individual  may 
apparently  be  left  unaided  to  work  out  his  des- 


96  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

tiny,  the  Creator  has  a  supervision  over  the  af- 
fairs of  this  world. 

It  is  a  matter  of  indifference  for  the  purposes 
of  this  argument  whether  the  supervision  is 
immediate  in  each  instance  or  general,  or  estab- 
lished by  law ;  in  either  case  an  infinitely  pow- 
erful and  loving  Creator  will  hold  Himself 
responsible  for  the  existence  of  things. 

Now  of  all  the  events  that  have  happened 
within  historic  times  none  are  comparable  to 
the  influence  exerted  by  the  Mission  of  Christ. 
It  is  believed  the  historian  will  agree,  the  pro- 
gress of  humanity  has  been  greater  since  the 
Christian  era  than  for  all  the  eras  which  pre- 
ceded it ;  that  the  types  of  manhood  have  very 
generally  improved,  for  many  more  races  and 
parts  of  races  were  slaves  of  others,  with  attend- 
ant ignorance,  lust,  crime,  disregard  of  life  and 
rights  of  others,  anterior  to  the  proclamation  of 
"peace  and  good  will  towards  men,"  than  since ; 
that  with  this  reign  of  peace  the  scythe  and  cog 
wheel  have  been  forged  in  preference  to  the 
spear;  that  all  the  comforts  and  elegancies  of 
the  present  civilization  are  due  directly  to 
Christ's  influence;  that  a  new-born  charity  for 
fellow-men  has  vastly  ameliorated  all  the  asper- 
ities of  life,  a  charity  of  which  so  little  was 
practised  among  the  ancients,  and  so  much 
now,  until  nations  and  individuals  vie  with  one 
another  as  to  which  shall  do  most  for  suffering 
humanity.       All  of  these  things  an  unpreju- 


CHRIST  97 

diced  and  competent  judgment  must  declare  to 
be  the  result  of  the  coming  of  Christ. 

With  such  an  array  of  blessings,  the  product 
of  one  event,  is  the  judgment  not  forced  to  the 
conclusion  by  the  strictly  rational  argument, 
that  no  such  world-changing  power  would  have 
been  allowed  by  the  Creator  to  have  played, 
without  His  permission,  such  an  important  part 
among  His  creation,  which  He  apparently  loves 
so  much  ? 


The  investigator  of  truth  will  instantly  reply 
to  the  conclusion  of  the  preceding  section,  then 
the  religions  of  Buddha,  Confucius,  Mahomet 
and  all  pretenders  have  been  allowed  by  God. 

This  is  probably  true.  It  is  a  correct  deduc- 
tion from  the  preceding  arguments.  God  has 
allowed  sin  to  exist,  why  not  a  false  religion — 
possibly  a  false  religion  for  the  same  reason  he 
has  permitted  sin — probably,  when  He  has 
made  known  at  the  same  time  a  true  religion. 
Such  was  doubtless  the  case  when,  notwith- 
standing the  teachings  of  Moses  and  the  other 
patriarchs,  the  Hebrews  so  often  pursued 
strange  gods.  Such  may  be  the  case  when  men 
in  the  present  day  reject  Christ  and  set  up  some 
other  religion,  ignoring  Him. 


98  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

There  is  nothing  antagnostic  to  the  idea,  God 
established  the  Christian  religion  in  that  He 
also  permitted  Buddhism,  Confucianism  and 
Mahometanism  and  many  others.  These 
religions  have  done  good  to  mankind.  Each 
has  taught  man  higher  ideals,  higher  aspira- 
tions and  made  him  a  better  being. 

Possibly  each  religion  has  been  best  suited  to 
the  circumstances  of  the  people,  or  some  other 
adequate  reason  has  caused  God  to  have  per- 
mitted it. 

To  my  mind,  God  chose  for  the  advent  of 
Christ  a  most  opportune  time — a  time  when 
men  had  advanced  to  such  a  state  of  enlighten- 
ment that  Christian  doctrines  have  been  able  to 
produce  the  wonderful  changes  and  improve- 
ments which  have  taken  place  in  modern  cen- 
turies. 

The  argument  in  the  preceding  paragraph  is, 
therefore,  not  weakened  by  the  conclusion  that 
other  religions  have  been  allowed  by  God.  It 
is  unimportant,  also,  for  this  argument  what 
He  has  done  in  other  cases.  In  His  mercy  He 
has  brought  Christianity  to  our  hearthstones, 
and  the  duty  follows,  from  this  fact,  to  accept 
and  practice  its  precepts  and  to  carry  Christ's 
gospel  even  to  those  who  are  devotees  of  such 
other  creeds.  It  is  a  significant  circumstance, 
however,  that  in  no  other  religion  except 
Christianity  has  God  permitted  the  preacher  to 


CHRIST  99 

claim  divinity.       Neither  Buddha,  Confucius, 
nor  Mahomet  asserted  he  was  more  than  man. 


A  legitimate  method  of  human  reasoning  is,< 
one  may  judge  men  and  things  by  results.  So 
when  we  find  a  religion  unfolding  most  beauti- 
fully the  love  and  holiness  and  righteousness  of 
God,  teaching  brotherly  love  and  truth,  the 
results  of  which  have  been  a  wonderful  pro- 
gress in  the  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral 
development  of  men  wherever  such  religion  has 
been  established,  it  raises  a  probability  of  its 
truthfulness  and  the  veracity  of  its  founder,  for 
truth  and  error  do  not  consort — grapes  do  not 
grow  of  thistles  or  figs  of  thorns. 


Not  only  are  the  results  of  men's  conduct  a 
valuable  criterion  for  testing  the  validity  of 
their  claims  for  recognition,  but  the  means  they 
employ  to  produce  results  also  furnish  credit  or 
discredit  to  the  truthfulness  of  their  assertions. 


IOO  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

To  steal  in  order  to  give  to  the  poor ;  to  lie 
for  a  good  cause;  to  break  the  Sabbath  day 
unnecessarily  to  earn  money  for  the  necessities 
of  life;  to  claim  the  gift  of  prophecy  for  gain, 
all  bear  their  own  condemnations.  But  when 
we  find  a  preacher  leading  the  most  exemplary 
life,  devoting  his  energies  without  hope  of  re- 
ward, whose  teachings  breathe  the  highest  phil- 
anthropy, who  gives  his  life,  as  a  martyr,  for 
his  principles,  such  methods  constitute  a  proba- 
bility that  what  he  claims  for  himself  is  true, 
because  he  has  been  truthful  in  all  other  things. 

At  law  a  man's  general  reputation  for  truth 
is  considered  adequate  to  constitute  a  suffic- 
iently strong  reason  why  he  may  be  believed  in 
any  particular  instance.  On  what  ground, 
then,  can  Christ  be  deprived  of  the  benefit  of 
this  presumption  which  men  apply  in  cases  of 
human  conduct? 


Many  persons  profess  to  believe  Jesus  Christ 
was  a  reality — a  man  of  the  highest  possible 
virtues,  but  not  the  Son  of  God.  His  life  they 
point  to  as  an  example  for  all  men  to  admire 
and  imitate.  They  further  agree,  nothing  has 
so  contributed  to  bring  about  the  benign  results 


CHRIST  IOI 

of  civilization  of  the  present  era  as  the  influence 
of  His  religion. 

These  two  positions  are  to  my  mind  incon- 
sistent. For  no  proposition  is  plainer  than 
Christ  in  several  places  in  the  New  Testament 
distinctly  declares  His  Divinity — that  He  is  the 
Son  of  God. 

If  Christ  was  truthful,  as  they  affirm,  He 
should  be  believed;  if  He  was  not  divine,  not 
the  Son  of  God,  He  must  have  been  a  falsifier, 
but  such  persons  say  He  possessed  every  virtue, 
and  was  not  a  falsifier,  therefore  their  positions 
are  inconsistent. 


The  argument  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  best 
of  men  and  still  not  the  Son  of  God  may  be 
attempted  to  be  defended  as  follows :  Its  advo- 
cates may  say,  we  believe  Jesus  lived,  that  He 
was  pre-eminently  virtuous,  truthful,  and  the 
most  perfect  man  who  has  existed,  but  we  deny 
He  made  the  assertions  of  Himself  recorded  in 
the  New  Testament.  We  contend  that  the 
things  therein  affirmed  concerning  His  Divinity 
have  been  written  by  men  who  have  lived  since 
and  whose  assertions  are  unworthy  of  belief. 
This  dictum  is  founded  on  no  proof  except 


102  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

what  such  persons  claim  is  the  natural  improb- 
ability of  God  sending  a  Son,  a  part  of  His  own 
Divine  Being,  to  this  earth  as  a  teacher  and  as 
a  sacrifice  for  man. 

The  Christians  may  answer,  "We  deny  there 
is  any  improbability  in  God  visiting  this  earth 
in  the  form  of  Christ.  You  anti-Christians 
admit  God  made  the  world  which  has  so  much 
beauty  and  love  and  happiness  in  it,  that  it  has 
been  the  subject  of  His  watchful  care,  and  man 
has  been  the  favored  object  of  His  creation, 
why,  then,  is  there  any  improbability  in  God 
having  visited  in  person  this  earth  to  direct  and 
prepare  mankind  for  the  advanced  civilization 
He  at  that  time  intended  to  inaugurate  as  the 
Christian  Era?  If  He  came  to  this  earth,  the 
probability  is,  He  would  have  appeared  as  a 
corporeal  being,  for  man  with  his  five  senses 
could  recognize  no  other,  limited  as  he  is  to  a 
cognizance  of  matter,  and  therefore  God  would 
probably  choose  to  represent  Himself  in  the 
form  of  man  so  as  to  approach  nearer  to  the 
minds  and  consciences  of  men." 

It  thus  is  manifest,  there  is  no  inherent  im- 
probability of  God  having  appeared  among 
men  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ. 


CHRIST  103 

Admit  the  authenticity  of  the  Scriptures, 
that  is,  their  words  were  inspired  by  God,  then 
there  is  no  escape  from  the  acceptance  of  all 
therein  written  as  truthful. 

But  indeed  it  is  fast  growing  to  be  the 
fashion  among  men,  particularly  as  distin- 
guished from  women,  to  deny  their  authen- 
ticity. Not  that  one  person  in  ten  can  give  an 
intelligent  reason  for  his  unbelief,  but  an 
impression  or  a  knowledge  that  some  distin- 
guished atheists  have  held  this  view  is  adequate 
on  which  to  establish  their  uneducated  convic- 
tion. 

But  what  are  the  probabilities  of  their  genu- 
ineness in  a  purely  rational  argumentation. 
Upon  their  face,  from  cover  to  cover  of  the 
New  Testament,  nothing  save  the  highest  mor- 
ality is  set  forth — truth,  justice,  charity,  purity, 
benevolent  self-sacrifice,  temperance— every 
conceivable  virtue  is  taught,  and  nowhere  is 
crime,  deceit  or  other  sin  authorized  or  pal- 
liated. 

For  men  unaided  by  inspiration  to  have  writ- 
ten so  much  that  is  superlatively  good,  to  have 
never  shown  the  cloven  foot  of  the  beast  even 
once,  it  is  improbable  (from  our  common 
knowledge  that  men  speak  and  act  and  write 
from  the  fullness  of  the  heart)  that  such  indi- 
viduals, imbued  with  such  elevated  moral- 
ity, could  have  deliberately  fabricated  and 
recorded  what  they  knew  to  be  false — more  yet, 


104  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

to  have  falsified  when  the  falsification  could 
not  have  been  of  any  possible  profit  to  them- 
selves. 


To  my  mind  the  New  Testament  account  of 
the  life  of  Christ — His  principles  of  morality, 
His  teachings,  His  exposition  of  His  Divinity 
and  mission,  His  death  and  resurrection — is  the 
most  extraordinary  statement  or  scheme  of 
facts  that  has  ever  appeared  in  the  annals  of 
mankind.  Nothing  written  before  or  since 
bears  any  comparison  to  it,  either  in  the  facts 
recorded  or  the  manner  in  which  they  are  nar- 
rated. The  history  of  Buddha,  Confucius,  or 
Mahomet,  in  every  essential  point,  is  vastly 
inferior. 

It  is  so  unique,  for  centuries  the  most  tal- 
ented of  mankind  have  produced  nothing  like 
it ;  so  captivating,  the  most  learned  and  earnest 
have  become  enrapt  in  its  recitals  and  prin- 
ciples. 

When  any  scheme  of  such  transcendent 
originality,  such  marvellous  morality,  and  such 
persuasive  probability  takes  a  firm  hold  on  the 
minds  of  the  best  thinkers  for  centuries,  there 
is,  as  a  matter  of  purely  human  reasoning,  a 


CHRIST  I05 


probability  of  its  truthfulness,  for  the  consen- 
sus of  a  large  number  of  competent  judges  has 
always  been  deemed  in  human  affairs  the  best 
means  for  arriving  at  truth. 


The  principles  taught  by  Christ  raise  a  prob- 
ability of  the  genuineness  of  His  own  Divinity. 
With  a  wonderfully  accurate  generalization  He 
groups  all  of  mankind's  duties  under  two 
heads — First,  To  love  God  with  all  the  heart 
and  soul  and  mind;  and  second,  To  love  one's 
neighbor  as  one's  self. 

The  perfect  obedience  of  these  two  laws  is 
the  ultimate  goal  to  which  all  moral  improve- 
ment is  tending.  In  the  long  vista  of  the 
future,  seen  clearly  only  by  the  eye  of  Divinity, 
Christ,  understanding  the  principles  of  God's 
creation,  that  excelsior  was  the  ruling  thought 
of  the  Creator  and  destiny  of  all  things, 
announced  with  more  than  human  wisdom 
these  grand  requirements  to  constitute  the 
highest  and  future  man. 

No  being  of  flesh  and  blood  alone  would 
have  conceived  of  the  sublimity  of  character  to 
be  attained  in  a  perfect  obedience  to  such  com- 
mandments, or  would  have  deemed  it  prac- 
ticable to  have  set  such  a  task  for  mankind  to 


106  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

perform.  Buddha  and  Confucius  failed  to 
recognize  man's  obligation  to  the  Deity;  and 
Mahomet,  man's  duty  to  man. 

We  thus  have  in  the  ten  arguments  presented 
above  ten  probabilities  in  favor  of  the  verity  of 
Christ  and  the  truthfulness  of  the  religion  He 
expounded. 

In  a  matter  of  worldly  concern  when  ten 
probabilities  point  to  one  conclusion  and  none — 
except  the  inability  of  certain  demonstration, 
and  that  in  a  matter  where  certain  demonstra- 
tion is  impossible  and  not  desirable — is  shown 
to  exist  against  it,  a  wise  man  usually,  with 
much  certainty,  acts  upon  them. 


THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST 

Men  are  social  beings.  In  co-operation  they 
attain  their  highest  development.  Argument 
is  not  necessary  to  establish  this  proposition. 

To  live  in  society  certain  rules  for  govern- 
ment of  the  individuals  are  so  necessary  that  in 
every  instance,  whether  nomadic,  tribal,  or  in 
more  complex  organizations,  such  rules  are 
established  either  involuntarily  or  by  design. 
Co-operation,  by  its  very  nature,  implies  agree- 
ment of  conduct  to  produce  certain  desired 
results.  This  compact  to  act  on  definite  lines  is 
government,  and  men  cannot  escape  from  its 
establishment  if  they  would. 

The  same  principle  producing  national  gov- 
ernment applies  in  all  cases  where  individuals 
act  in  common — from  world-wide  corporations 
to  a  partnership  of  two  persons. 

Christ  established  a  religion,  the  aim  of 
which  was  the  betterment  of  mankind.  To 
promulgate  it  required  the  efforts  of  many  dis- 
ciples. Their  work  was  to  have  a  common 
object,  therefore  an  organization  with  definite 
rules  for  government  of  the  members  was 
necessary.  Such  an  organization  is  a  church. 
107 


108  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

A  church  being  thus  proved  from  strictly 
rational  considerations  to  be  necessary,  no  man 
has  a  right  to  divorce  himself  from  such  an 
organization,  and  say,  "I  will  serve  God  alone/' 

The  wisdom  of  church  establishment  is  as 
apparent  as  its  necessity.  Men  have  a  right  to 
the  example  and  counsel  of  their  neighbors; 
and  besides  nothing  contributes  more  to  stabil- 
ity of  conduct  in  doing  well  than  the  restrain- 
ing influence  of  the  opinion  of  one's  fellow 
churchmen. 


MIRACLES 

The  historian  Hume  asserted  no  human  testi- 
mony was  competent  to  prove  the  truth  of  a 
miracle  when  such  miracle  was  a  violation  of 
the  ordinary  laws  of  nature. 

To  a  man  who  has  succeeded  in  convincing 
himself  there  is  no  God,  the  truth  of  miracles 
cannot  be  demonstrated.  God  alone,  it  is  ad- 
mitted, can  change  the  laws  of  nature,  and  if 
He  does  not  exist,  there  is  no  power  to  perform 
them.  Nothing  illustrates  better  the  inconsis- 
tent credulity  of  the  atheist  than  his  ascribing 
to  inorganic  matter  the  power  to  originate  itself 
and  establish  the  inconceivably  complex,  but 
certain,  laws  by  which  it  is  governed. 

To  hold  the  opinion  that  the  laws  of 
gravitation  established  themselves,  the  prin- 
cipal theorem  of  which  is,  matter  attracts  mat- 
ter directly  as  the  masses  and  inversely  as  the 
square  of  the  distances  between  them ;  that  light 
and  heat,  mere  vibrations,  without  intelligence, 
could  construct  their  own  laws,  could  work  out 
even  the  one  rule  that  their  diffusion  is  as  the 
cube  of  the  distance;  that  matter  could  distin- 
guish between  its  attractive  force  which  is 
directly  as  the  mass  and  its  working  force 
109 


1 IO  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

which  is  impeded  as  the  third  power  of  its 
weight ;  that  electricity,  believed  by  many  to  be 
a  pure  vibration  of  molecules,  without  men- 
tality, could  arrange  its  transmission  so  its  elec- 
tromotive force  would  always  be  equal  to  the 
current  multiplied  by  the  resistance — more  yet, 
every  time  any  one  of  these  forces  exerts  itself, 
it  has  the  intelligence  to  act  in  the  same  manner, 
it  has  invariably  behaved  in  the  aeons  of  the 
past — I  say,  to  hold  these  opinions  of  nature,  of 
inanimate  matter,  to  endow  it  with  such  won- 
derful intelligence  and  order,  is  more  inconceiv- 
able than  to  believe  an  all-powerful  and  all-wise 
Creator  would  perform  a  miracle  to  attest  the 
truth  of  a  religion  which  had  for  its  object  the 
elevation  of  man,  the  highest  earthly  product 
of  His  creation. 


Assuming  the  universe  was  brought  into 
existence  by  a  Creator,  it  is  an  ordinary  proba- 
bility that  He  has  the  power  to  perform  mir- 
acles if  He  desires. 

What  men  make  they  can  unmake  or  alter. 
If  this  be  the  rule  of  this  life,  is  it  not  probable 
the  Creator  of  the  world  and  its  laws  can 
destroy  the  world  and  suspend  or  change  those 


MIRACLES  III 

laws?  Would  it  not  be  a  violation  of  the 
ordinary  principles  of  reasoning  we  apply  to 
earthly  affairs  to  suppose  a  God  who  had  the 
capacity  to  make  the  wonderful  cosmos  of  land 
and  sea  and  skies  was  Himself  a  slave  to  His 
own  creation,  without  the  power  to  abolish,  to 
alter,  or  even  to  improve  it? 


If  it  be  granted  this  world  was  made  by  an 
all-powerful  and  intelligent  Creator,  whose 
scheme  of  creation  included  the  moral  better- 
ment of  mankind,  then  nothing  is  more  reason- 
able, or  probable,  than  He  should  appeal  to  that 
moral  nature  in  a  manner  best  suited  to  its 
ennoblement. 

That  God  has  done  so  is  plain  from  His 
causing  unhappiness  invariably  to  attend  on 
disobedience  of  the  instinctive  moral  laws  and 
contentment  to  follow  the  performance  of 
moral  duty. 

When  we  find  Him,  therefore,  taking  such 
an  active  part  in  the  moral  behavior  of  men,  is 
it  improbable  He  should  go  a  step  further  and 
establish  a  new  religion,  the  natural  effect  of 
which  has  been  a  great  aid  to  such  moral  life  ? 


112  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

If  this  be  true,  does  it  not  follow  logically, 
would  not  any  wise  man,  having  the  power, 
certify  in  the  beginning  his  religion  by  such 
unusual  evidences  as  miracles,  so  as  to  leave  no 
doubt  in  the  minds  of  many  of  those  who  saw 
them,  and  were  to  attest  them  to  future  genera- 
tions, of  the  genuineness  of  such  religion? 

Would  not  this  wise  man  go  a  step  further, 
namely,  after  the  certificati<r*i  of  his  religon  by 
miracles,  cease  in  their  unnecessary  reiteration 
in  order  to  allow  faith — the  ennobling  influen- 
ces of  faith — in  those  miracles  to  operate  con- 
tinuously by  attracting  attention  to  them,  and 
their  evidences;  by  causing  an  effort  at  belief, 
and  as  a  consequence  of  such  effort  for  men  to 
grow  into  higher  spirituality? 

There  would  be  no  increase  in  spirituality  if 
at  stated  periods  in  every  year  God  attested  His 
Divinity  by  an  undoubtable  miracle.  Men 
would  receive  it  as  they  do  the  knowledge  that 
three  and  two  make  five.  In  the  case  of  belief 
in  the  numbers  making  five  there  can  be  no 
advancement,  and  as  often  repeated  heretofore 
there  can  be  no  physical  growth  without  labor, 
and  no  moral  growth  in  believing  in  God  and 
His  Son  if  their  demonstration  were  absolute. 

The  uncertainties  of  the  miracles  of  Christ 
are  in  exact  accord  with  all  the  phases  of  God's 
revelation  of  Himself  to  us.  No  man  has  seen 
His  Holy  Essence.     They  are  in  harmony  with 


MIRACLES  113 

His  entire  plan  of  the  evolution  of  life,  for  all 
life  ascends  to  higher  planes  only  by  effort. 


God  in  establishing  the  religion  of  Christ 
was  dealing  with  a  race  of  beings  which 
received  all  its  primary  knowledge  through  the 
five  senses.  These  senses  took  cognizance  only 
of  matter  and  of  the  unvarying  character  of  the 
laws  governing  it.  Plainly,  the  most  effective 
manner,  from  a  human  point  of  view,  to  appeal 
to  the  intelligence  of  such  creatures,  to  show 
them  that  such  religion  came  from  God  and 
God  alone,  was  to  reverse  or  suspend  the  laws 
of  nature  the  race  knew  He  alone  could  do. 

The  fact,  therefore,  that  the  most  appropriate 
means  were  used  to  produce  the  most  effective 
results,  of  itself,  creates  a  probability  of  the 
reality  of  the  miracles  of  Christ. 


Inasmuch  as  miracles  involve  a  temporary 
reversal  or  suspension  of  the  laws  of  nature, 
which  can  be  accomplished  only  by  an  all-pow- 


114  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

erful  Being,  it  is  manifest  no  man,  as  man,  can 
perform  a  miracle. 

When,  therefore,  miracles  are  asserted  by 
individuals  to  attest  things  our  consciousness 
declare  are  not  of  God,  such  accounts  should 
be  rejected.  But  on  the  other  hand,  as  the 
character  of  the  miracles  of  the  Saviour  was 
benign,  was  ennobling;  the  cause  for  the  mir- 
acles was  adequate ;  the  effects  produced  by  the 
miracles  have  been  of  the  most  extraordinary 
beneficence ;  the  miracles  were  attested  by  such 
numbers  of  competent  judges  and  truthful  per- 
sons as  to  exclude  in  all  human  probability  any 
mistake  or  fabrication,  then  such  miracles  are 
as  proper  subjects  of  belief  as  many  of  the 
things  believed  by  men  in  the  ordinary  affairs 
of  life. 


CONCLUSION 

On  a  retrospect  of  the  arguments  herein 
developed  my  own  judgment  is  persuaded  of 
the  verity  of  the  fundamental  truths  of  the 
Christian  religion.  Nearly  all  the  subjects  dis- 
cussed are  dogmas  of  Christianity — each  an 
harmonious  part  of  that  grand  scheme.  In 
such  a  case  when  more  than  one  proposition  is 
proved  probable  it  adds  much  to  the  probability 
of  the  others;  when  many,  on  the  ordinary 
principles  of  human  reasoning,  are  shown  to  be 
probable,  it  constitutes  so  high  a  degree  of 
proof  that  men,  in  many  instances,  stake  for- 
tune and  life  on  facts  established  in  such  man- 
ner. This  is  especially  the  case  when  probabil- 
ity is  the  best  evidence  obtainable,  and  it  need 
hardly  be  noticed,  from  the  nature  of  the  sub- 
jects herein  discussed,  there  can  be  no  positive 
demonstration  of  either  their  truth  or  falsity. 
They  are  all  beyond  proof  of  certainty,  but  not 
of  probability. 

These  conclusions,  to  my  mind,  liken  them- 
selves somewhat  to  the  stones  of  a  pyramid, 
wherein  each  successive  higher  course  rests  for 
its  foundation  on  the  lower,  and  draws  in  the 
115 


I  1 6  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  REASON 

lines  to  a  more  definite  and  narrowing  conclu- 
sion, until  a  final  apex  is  formed,  from  which 
a  glorious  star,  unfading  in  its  fascination, 
sheds  its  hallowing  light,  and  in  whose  rays 
there  is  beheld  a  benignant  God,  and  His  Son, 
Jesus  Christ. 


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